Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“I’ll leave it to you.” The man in black smiled.

“PLEASE WAIT!! DAZAI-SAN!” A white-haired boy rushed to him.

“The time has come. The fifth stage, the final stage of the plan.” The man stepped one step back.

“NO, NO!-”

“It’s quite a strange feeling, like the feeling you get the day before you return to your hometown.” The world turned upside down, and the man was facing the blue sky. An ocean blue and a soft brown are staring at him.

His back was zooming down the cold, hard street.

*SPLASH*

…

It was supposed to be the end.

“- Osamu! Can you hear me?!” A panicked voice of a woman.

Why was he still breathing?

“The patient is waking up! Call the doctor.” A white silhouette passed by.

Why was blood still plumping in his veins?

“Take it easy, kid. How are you feeling?”

Why? Why? WHY?

“Ain’t I dead?” He stared at the white ceiling. His mind was still foggy, and his body ached. However, his eyes were slowly darting around to take the whole view of the room. Dazai was in a hospital room. Surrounding him were a male doctor, a man, and a woman. His brain was racing through all the available information. This place wasn’t the mafia’s hospitals or clinics. The man and woman wore similar rings, so they must be married. For some reason, they seemed to know him, but he didn’t remember meeting them. 

“Ouch!” His head throbbed suddenly. A vision of the man and the woman sitting in front of a dining table flashed through his head. 

“... It was a tense Quirk manifested, but it isn’t that serious. You’re just expected to be here and be supervised until your fever is gone.” The male doctor smiled at him. Dazai wanted nothing more than to stay away from the guy, away from this damn room that was filled with insecticide. He looked out the window and debated if he jumped out right now, would he finally have his sweet death?

“We were so worried. One moment he was fine, the next thing we knew, he was lying on the ground having a seizure.” The other man said.

“It’s rare, but it’s happened. He'll recover in a few days.” The doctor turned back to him. Dazai now realized that he had to tilt his head way back to meet the doctor’s eyes, which didn’t make sense because his height was 181 cm, which was higher than the average height of Japanese men. Keeping a blank face, he looked at his hands. He blinked once... then twice, then three times. His arms and hands, which were filled with scars of cuts and bullet holes, had become smooth like a baby’s. No, his whole body was the size of a toddler.

“Do you hurt anywhere? Can we check your temperature?” Dazai snapped his head back to the doctor. He didn’t understand what was going on, but there was no way he would let strange people near him.

“... I think I feel a bit better now. No need for it.” He said. His voice was pitched high and small. He felt his body burning up and his mouth dry, but he didn’t say anything. These were nothing compared to what he had been through.

“Well then, I’ll go and get the prescription for you.” The doctor talked to the couple, “You guys can stay here with him. Please call the nurse if something’s wrong.”

“We will. Thank you, sensei.”

After the doctor left, the man moved close to him. Dazai showed no emotions, but his body was tense. The man was obviously Japanese, with messy short black hair and dark eyes. The woman had long brown hair and wore white-framed glasses.

The man crouched down to meet his eyes. He gave a smile that crinkled his face. “How are you feeling, son? You finally have a Quirk, isn’t that great?”

The woman glared at the man, “He is still in shock. Can you ask him later? This accident must have been traumatic for him.”

So this body was their kid. Dazai had more information now, but it only brought up more questions. Why is he in a child's body? What is a Quirk? Why do they talk about it like it's common knowledge? Why couldn’t he die?

Arranging his thoughts within a few seconds, he tilted his head and smiled at the couple. “I’m fine, Mom, Dad. I don’t remember what happened. Can you tell me?”

The woman signed, “I was working on my laptop. You were watching your favorite show ‘Hero Spy’, and suddenly you started yelling and shaking on the floor. So we called an ambulance.”

She adjusted her glasses and continued, “Fortunately, the doctor said it was because your Quirk just formed. Your Quirk cells are evolving, which causes your body to heat up.”

“... Masa, you don’t need to explain all that. Our son is five years old. He can’t understand all of that.”

“It’s important to talk to your child like an adult early, so that he can develop better speaking skills, Daisuke.”

Masa, the brown-haired woman, was probably a no-nonsense type of person. Daisuke - the black-haired man was somewhat more down-to-earth and relaxed. Although Dazai wanted to analyze his so-called parents, there were other, more significant things.

“What’s about my Quirk, Dad?” He went for Daisuke. The guy seemed to be more excited about this ‘Quirk,’ and Dazai still did not know what it was.

As he expected, the man started talking about the potential of his Quirk.

“We don’t know what it is yet, so we will need to go to a quirk analyst later. However, you could have my amazing Quirk: Paralyze Touch, or your mom’s Quirk: Psychic Shield, or a new one that combines both of them.”

Dazai continued asking with a childish tone, “But why is your Quirk amazing?”

“Oh?! Right! I never explained it to you.” Daisuke facepalm, “My Quirk can make a person freeze by skin-to-skin contact. And your mom is… ugh… What are the words?” 

“I have a protective psychic barrier against mental intrusion,” Masa said.

“... Well, that. It means people can’t attack her mind.” Daisuke explained that to him, as if he were actually a dumb five-year-old.

So, a touch-based Ability and a weaker version of his nullification Ability. But Abilities are rare and were kept secret by the governments. There was even an analyst about these Quirks, which didn’t make sense to him because Abilities were unpredictable, and each one had a very unique power. His eyes landed on the calendar on the wall. The year 2425 was printed on it.

He wanted to swear. He wanted to scream. He wanted to dig his fingernails until his arms bled. He wanted his eternal sleep, not whatever this bullshit was?

“Osamu? Are you alright, son? Why are you being quiet all of a sudden?” His ‘dad’ touched his shoulder, and Dazai flinched back to reality. With a perfect face mask, he moved Daisuke’s hand off his shoulder. “I’m just tired. Can you get me some water?” Could the man get him some poison?

“No’ Problem, son.” Daisuke walked out of the room.

Masa and Dazai fell silent. His 'mom’ apparently wasn’t a talkative person, she took out her laptop and started typing. Dazai lay on the bed and closed his eyes. He couldn’t sleep, but maybe a rest could get his head thinking more clearly.

Dazai was released the next day. During their time at the hospital, he tried to pry as much information as he could from his parents, the staff of the hospital, and even patients. This world's Abilities or ‘Quirks’ were weaker than his world's Abilities, but they were everywhere. He saw a doctor pop out his eyes to look inside a patient. It was gross! Some people he saw even had alien features, and when he stared at them too much, his dad yelled at him, “ Don’t stare at people. The mutant Quirks already had enough shit-I mean problems.” Masa hit Daisuke on the back of his head for swearing in front of his son.

His head sometimes throbbed with what he guessed was this body’s - this version of Dazai Osamu’s memories. A child with parents, a happy child, who liked listening to his mom reading articles, and asking his dad about his police job. He felt sick in his stomach. Those memories made him feel like this body was actually him. At the same time, he felt like a monster that had ripped out the skin of a child and put it on. A wolf in a sheep's clothing. His memories of a life of darkness and blood haunted the undeveloped brain of a kid.

“Osamu? Are you listening?” His dad asked him from the driver's seat. Dazai didn’t take his eyes off the window.

He was in the backseat of a car, and they were heading back ‘home’. His mind wandered to a rusty shipping container, and then to a redhead man cooking in a luxury apartment.

Too much information to analyze, and too many emotions to feel. He did what he always did best. Bottled up his confusion, sadness, and anger and let them rot.

“Huh? What are they doing? I didn’t receive any assembling orders?” Daisuke stopped the car suddenly. A block from where they stopped, there was a squad of policemen putting up their bulletproof shields.

“You asked for a day off because of a family emergency.” Masa rolled her eyes at her husband.

“Oh yeah.” Dazai couldn’t care less about their conversation. He looked at the squash of policemen who were standing in front of a parking lot building. They were waiting for something. A raid? In the middle of a shopping street? They didn’t even evacuate civilians.

Before he could criticize the police force, a shadow jumped out of the building and yelled, “Call the number one! We need All Might!”. In less than a minute, a group of mutants ran out of the building and overwhelmed the police force. They started attacking everything on the way without caring if it was police or normal civilians. The criminals were screaming unintelligibly and rambling all over the place. They didn’t seem to follow a plan or even be aware of their surroundings. Dazai realized something was influencing them.

“Villains! We have to contact the Pro heroes!” His dad took out his phone and called the police station. Dazai paid attention to two words, 'Villains’ and ‘Pro Hero’.

His mom took off her seatbelt and opened the car door. “The road is blocked. We have to get far away from here. Osamu, let’s go.” She opened the back door and reached out for him.

Bystanders started to panic and fled the scene. People were running and trampling on each other. The police were useless, they just held the shields and yelled to get the ‘Heroes’. They didn’t even use any weapons or try to catch the ‘Villains’. As a former mafia boss, even Dazai was disappointed by this world’s police force.

“I AM HERE!” Dazai turned his head to the shout.

A blonde, very muscled man wearing a tight, colorful spandex outfit jumped down from the sky. The man started to beat the villains and rescued the victims at record speed. He was fast, effective, and very showy with ridiculous attack forms. His wide smile was like a poster stuck on his face. It reminded Dazai of the hero comic in his previous life.

At some point, people stopped running to cheer for the man. Some even took out their phones and started recording the fights at a short distance.

“Hooray!”

“All Might! All Might! All Might!”

“That is our number one!”

All Might punched a guy, and their bloody tooth spilled out. Dazai was confused as to why people were treating this like a show. His mom was holding his hand and keeping him away from the crowd. He searched around for his dad and saw the man join in with the police force, who started cheering and clapping for the blonde guy. Dazai wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Soon, All Might had tied up all the villains and dashed into the building from which the villains had come. Dazai was staring blankly at the blonde man when he punched through the wall before going in.

The whole thing was so unbelievably stupid that it left him speechless. The moment he stepped back to the car, his dad kept praising All Might like he was some god all the way to their apartment. Dazai had to repress the urge to throw himself out of the moving car.

Chapter Text

“From the X-ray, we can be sure that your son has a Quirk.” The Quirk analyst pointed at Dazai’s pinky toes. “We just need to find the right conditions to activate it.”

Masa thought for a moment before telling the analyst, “My Quirk protects me from mental intrusion. Maybe we can find someone with a mental Quirk to test on him.” Dazai definitely wasn’t okay with his new mom offering others to do tests on him. However, if his ‘Quirk’ was what he thought it was, there wouldn’t be a problem.

“I do have an employee with a mental Quirk. Let me ask her.”

The analyst called a young woman whose Quirk was projecting her own thoughts on people she was making eye contact with. Dazai thought it could be a useful ability for negotiation situations. The girl stared at him for a good five minutes before giving up.

“I can’t project my thoughts on him.” She signed.

His mom seemed happy about Dazai having her Quirk. However, the analyst insisted on doing more tests just to be sure. An intern with a hair color-changing Quirk was called, and Dazai was asked to use his Quirk on them. Dazai didn’t know what he had expected, but the moment a blue light appeared and turned the intern’s hair back to its original color. Everyone in the room (except Dazai) gasped. A few more tests were made, and it was confirmed that he had a Nullification Quirk that could be activated through contact.

He had a complex feeling about this. ‘No Longer Human’ was a useful Ability, and because of it, he was the ultimate defender of the Double Black. The ability to strip someone of their soul power made him a dangerous member of the Port Mafia. However, the fact that ‘No Longer Human’ followed him after his death reminded him that his sins were still carved on his soul.

‘ Name: Dazai Osamu

Quirk: Nullification

Confirmed by The Quirk Analysis Center of Osaka ’

Dazai read the paper multiple times and wondered if they could change the name. ‘No Longer Human’ made a better first impression than Nullification. The last one was just so plain for his taste.

After the appointment, his mom took him to the grocery store. It was boring, he ended up staring at a bag of potato chips with a picture of the blonde, muscled guy that he had seen the other day. A good boy would stay with his guardian so Dazai decided to wander around the store. There was even more merchandise of these ‘Pro Heroes’, from the flaming beard hero’s hot sauce to the hair gel brand of a guy obsessed with jeans.

Dazai had a lot of opinions about this hero system, and none of it was positive. Although he was curious about this ‘Justice’ society, he had other priorities at the moment. He needed to have access to the Internet to find more about this world, about Yokohama, the Port Mafia, and… people he had left. 

Masa had a laptop, so it would be perfect if he could get his hands on it. He had to wait for her to sleep tonight and carefully do his research.

“Osamu? Where are you? We have to go home now.” Dazai headed back to the woman.

There were cardboard boxes lying around their apartment. His parents were busy themselves with packing and contacting a moving company. Masa was ordering Daisuke to put things in a specific way. His dad mumbled a few complaints, but didn’t speak up to her.

Dazai had observed his new family for a month, and during that time, he could tell their dynamics. His dad was a police officer, a job that was overlooked by this ‘Heroes’ society. When his son asked, Dazai Daisuke tried to act like his work was exciting and more important than it actually was. His mom, on the other hand, was an independent modern woman, she kept her last name even after marriage. Higashi Masa had a cold personality but was very passionate about her journalism job. Dazai wondered how they got together because Masa didn’t seem to enjoy her husband's carefree and joking personality.

He had been doing research about this world by getting his hands on every book, newspaper, and even hacking his mom’s laptop. Dazai could confirm that he wasn’t in his original world anymore. Yokohama didn't exist, and the Port Mafia and Abilities weren’t on any historical record that he read. He even searched on the dark web, but he couldn’t find anything besides normal criminal activities such as drugs, weapons dealing, gambling, human trafficking, Quirk trafficking, and so on. This world was a rotten apple covered with golden leaves.

“Daisuke! Come here and help me pack these kitchen supplies. We can get new dishes when we arrive at Naruhata.”

“Just a minute. I’m packing Osamu’s stuff.” His dad held a teddy bear wearing a superhero cap in front of Dazai. “Osamu, do you want to keep your friend?” Dazai glanced at the brown teddy that was missing its left eye and shook his head.

“You can throw it out.”

“Oh? But you used to bring Mr. Super everywhere with you.” Daisuke was surprised with his emotionless response.

On the other hand, Masa just shrugged. “He must grow out of it. Let’s hurry up and finish these. We have a long day tomorrow.”

The next day, Dazai and his parents moved from Osaka to Naruhata district, Tokyo. His dad got a chance to get a higher raise and promotion at an understaffed station. His mom wanted to have more opportunities for her hero-related journalism career, apparently, there were more villain attacks and hero agencies in Tokyo. The reasons why his parents decided to move to a city with a higher crime rate with a child were selfish, but Dazai didn’t have the right to judge them.

He looked away from the married couple and quietly walked to the kitchen tools box. He took out a small knife and hid it away. That way, even if his parents found out, they would assume it got lost in the moving process.

The rest of the move was uneventful. Dazai was busy himself with a random book that he got his hands on. All the way to their new apartment, the parents were talking, well, like his dad was talking, and his mom disagreed with him. They managed to get to Naruhata and only crossed two Villains’ attacks. Dazai wondered if he would get used to this reality, but for now, he would look at every spandex wearer as if they just came out of the circus.

They arrived at the new apartment at noon. The moving workers all had Quirks that were useful for their jobs, so the unpacking was quickly completed.

“And this is your new room. Do you like it?” His dad opened the door on the left. The layout of his room was simple: a study desk facing a double window, a single bed, a closet, and a bookshelf. The room walls were light blue, and the sunlight from the window lit up the whole room.

“It’s fine.”

“... Okay? Um… Do you want to decorate it with anything? We can buy some stickers and-” Dazai cut out his dad rambling.

“No, I’m tired. I want to take a nap.” As short as he was, he crawled up the bed and just flopped on it like a dead fish.

“Ugh… I’ll call you when dinner is ready.” Daisuke stepped out of the room and closed the door.

Dazai looked up from his bed and walked to the door. He opened a small gap and peaked through it. His dad was speaking with concern about him.

“Masa, Osamu has been acting weird. Should we worry about it?”

“Nonsense. He just went through a lot of changes. Our son has a Quirk and we just moved to a new city which makes it hard to adjust.”

His dad signed, “You’re right. I should give him some time.”

Dazai closed the door quietly and went back to bed. Sitting on the soft mattress, the five-year-old took out the knife that he had stolen from the kitchen’s supplies. He stared at his left wrist for a long minute before pressing the sharp blade on his arm's soft skin and cutting a red line. It wasn’t deep but enough to draw blood. He tilted his head and continued staring at the red shade. Finally, he wrapped the knife carelessly in a tissue and threw it into one of the desk's drawers.

Dazai was standing with his mom in front of a steel gate. He had an emotionless face, but he could feel that inside of him died slowly with all the noise. Surrounding them, there were kids crying, parents yelling, and camera flashes going off. 

“Say cheese~” *Click* “And we’re done!” His dad put his phone back in his jacket after taking a photo of Dazai and Masa. In the photo, Dazai wore a long-sleeved jacket with shorts as his uniform. On his left, his mom gave out a small smile and put her hand on his shoulder.

This was his first day of elementary school. Before this, Dazai had spent around three months in kindergarten, and it had been a nightmare to spend time with dumb kids and have teachers speak to him like a toddler. However, back then, he could have hidden in a corner and read something that wasn’t a picture book. Now, He had to sit still in a classroom filled with snotty brats and pretend to listen to things that he was either too smart for or didn’t care about.

His parents led him to one of the school's staff, and soon he found himself sitting at a small wooden desk. Only a quarter of the class was filled, so he waited in boredom while watching kids walk through the classroom door like they were bracing themselves for the battlefield. Maybe he should show them a bit of his intelligence, that way, he could at least study more advanced knowledge, or even skip straight to college. That would be more interesting than faking himself as some stupid, naive kid, there was a high chance he would snap after a week.

Then…

An ocean blue and a soft brown meet his eyes.

The world just froze.

Dazai stopped breathing.

Walking through the door was a kid with hair as red as sunset, and stars kissed freckles on their cheeks. Their tiny face scrunched in a frown, which made them adorable with all the baby fat. If Dazai had been the mafia boss that he had been a year ago, he would have commented on how the redhead looked like an angry chihuahua. However, at this particular moment, all he could do was stare at this child and take in all the features that he had thought he would never see again. He didn’t know if there was a god above, but this demon was really kneeling and begging for this not to be a fever dream.

A glance at him, and the ginger stopped their steps. They stood there, staring at Dazai. In their big, beautiful eyes, there were all types of emotions passing through. Until it settled with wraith and grief.

‘No way.’ He thought. The redhead stormed straight to him. Dazai could almost hear the crack with each step they took.

‘It can’t be.’ Heterochromia eyes locked on him with fire.

“Chuuya?” That was the only word that came out from Dazai’s mouth before the angry redhead kicked him in the face with a roundhouse kick. He fell out of his chair and felt a leg slam hard on his chest. His cheek was hurt, so this definitely wasn’t a dream. The redhead was shaking with anger and breathing heavily at him. Despite being the one who kicked him, they looked like the one who got hurt instead.

“YOU SUICIDAL WASTE OF BANDAGE!” Chuuya yelled with a very high-pitched voice.

“... Good to see you too, Chibi.” Dazai held his throbbing cheek with one hand. He tilted his head to look up at his former partner slash subordinate from the floor.

“Don’t fucking ‘Chibi’ me! What the fuck were you thinking?” The redhead grabbed Dazai’s collar and pulled his upper body up until their faces were inches apart.

Dazai opened his mouth and closed it a couple of times, but didn’t say a word. Chuuya’s patience was nearly at its limit when the brunette finally spoke up.

“We’re traumatizing the kids, my dear Slug. I suggest we get to somewhere more private.” His brown eyes dashed through the group of horrified six-year-olds.

The redhead didn’t care less about scaring a bunch of kids, but both of them did need to get out of there to continue their talk. Not waiting for Dazai to stand up, the ginger pulled him up by his shirt and dragged him out of the classroom. There were still parents and teachers outside of the front yard, so the only place they could talk without being eavesdropped on was the rooftop.

They moved through the school’s hallway with stealth and headed to the stairs. The door leading to the rooftop was locked, and Chuuya was ready to rip the whole door out with ‘Upon the Tainted Sorrow’. Before he could do that, Dazai grabbed Chuuya’s hand to nullify his power. The redhead froze when the blue light appeared, his face blanked for a second as he had just seen (or felt) a ghost.

“Let’s not destroy the school’s property on our first day, okay?” Dazai spoke with a carefree voice that he knew would piss Chuuya up even more. Snapping out of a distant memory, the ginger gazed at the dark-haired. Chuuya let out a long breath to calm himself, and reached to the back of his hair. He took out a hairpin and held it out for Dazai.

The brunette took the pin and proceeded to pick the door’s lock. Bending the metal piece, Dazai could feel the burning pair of eyes observing his every movement. Dazai knew the redhead was studying him, trying to analyze every twist and turn of his hands and comparing it to the man in his memory. There wasn’t anyone who understood Dazai like Chuuya, the duo had worked together for seven years. Dazai memorized Chuuya’s hobbies like the back of his hand, and Chuuya unconsciously craved the brunette’s twitches in his mind.

After a few seconds, the door opened with a click. Pushing the heavy door, two small figures walked on the empty rooftop. The height and the blue sky reminded him of that day, but Dazai didn’t think Chuuya would appreciate it if he talked about it.

Finally, they were facing each other. Even in their new, strange bodies, they were looking at each other like they had thousands of times before. Chuuya with raw emotions showing on his sleeves and Dazai with a perfect mask covering every intention.

A sentence broke the fragile silence.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Chapter Text

Before Chuuya could start to interrogate him, the brunette spoke up first.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

That successfully made the ginger explode. Chuuya grabbed his collar and held him up.

“And what makes you have a say in that?! You bastard!” He shouted.

“No, this is wrong. You’re supposed to become the next boss.” Dazai finally showed a bit of his emotions. The dark-haired was frustrated, his being here didn’t make sense, and Chuuya's being here also didn’t make sense.

The redhead’s eyes were wide open, staring at him in disbelief, before going back to a scowl and gritting his teeth.

“HOW FUCKING DARE YOU? You don’t have the right to decide my life.” Chuuya pushed him back. “What’s about everything we built? What’s about the future of the Port Mafia? Do you even care about the mess you left behind?” ‘Do you even care about me that you left behind?’ was unsaid.

“I had calculated all the outcomes and-” Chuuya cut him off.

“No, you don’t. You can’t even imagine the burning dumpster that Yokohama became.” It wasn’t the truth. Chuuya didn’t know that Dazai had knowledge from the alternative future and had known about the conflicts between the Abilities organizations.

But Dazai didn’t say anything and let the ginger yell at him for a few minutes. After that, they fell back into a long silence.

“... Why did you do it?” Chuuya finally asked the question. The redhead tried to keep his voice even, but failed.

Dazai wanted to say it was for his brilliant plans, for a good man he could save, for a better future for Yokohama, but in the end, he would be lying. The truth was and had always been because…

“I was weak.” There wasn’t a noble cause. Dazai wasn’t a prophet who could see everything, he wasn’t a strong-willed warrior who stood up after every challenge, and he definitely wasn’t a hero sacrificing himself for innocent lives. He just wanted an excuse, a reason to give up. He had been weak, so he had surrendered to the voices in his head.

Chuuya didn’t say anything. He slowly dropped the brunette’s collar and stepped back to observe him. For a long time, the ginger looked at him with anger, confusion, sadness, and, finally, acceptance. Of all the reasons he could have thought about, it was just that simple.

“Shit!” Chuuya swore and leaned back against a wall. Dragging Dazai with him, the redhead and brunette sit next to each other. Their pinkies touched, bringing a bit of comfort that they would never admit that they craved. Dazai put his head on the other’s shoulder. Chuuya also leaned on the brunette.

They stayed in silence, watching the clouds in the sky. They missed the first bell, but none of them cared.

“I did become the boss, you know,” Chuuya said suddenly. Dazai stole a glance at him. His mismatched eyes were staring at the empty space in front of him.

“After you’re gone. I was the boss for over a year, and we had to face so many powerful enemies. The Guild, the fucking Rats, the Decay Angels. Yokohama literally turned into a battlefield. So many lives of our people and civilians were lost.” Chuuya grimaced at the memories.

“And no, I didn’t need you to win those battles.” Chuuya gazed at him, and Dazai smiled a little at his former partner.

“It was difficult but we won in the end. Your little pet project came out pretty capable.” The brunette thought about his white-haired student and the detective from ADA. Atsushi had come a long way, and the Shin Soukoku would continue to protect Yokohama even if they weren’t there anymore.

“What’s happened to you?” He asked Chuuya. In the end, they understood each other the best. Dazai knew Chuuya was hiding something important.

The redhead shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, “I used Corruption in the final battle.”

Dazai snapped his head at the other, but Chuuya interrupted him before he could say anything. “For god’s sake! Dazai, we were in the mafia. We all know that we won’t live until retirement.” That was a fact that everyone knew and accepted. Even if Dazai had prevented Oda’s death, it wouldn’t have stopped the deaths of others. Dazai wasn’t a god, he couldn’t predict all the outcomes, and he couldn’t stop all the deaths of people who were important to him. In the end, all he had done was run away.

“I’m sorry. I should have been there.”

Chuuya seemed to silently think about the brunette’s words. The redhead shook his head. “It doesn't matter. To be honest, I always have a feeling it will end in that way.” Chuuya tilted his head and looked up at the blue sky. Being crushed by his own Ability, by the destructive god inside of him. Chuuya’s life was a tragic poem, but he fought and danced with all he had until his last breath. Dazai couldn’t help but admire that about him.

He didn’t know what to say except to repeat the same words, “I’m sorry.”

Chuuya rolled his eyes annoyedly, “Enough with apologizing. More importantly, what the fuck is this place? Why are we here?”

“Well~ because Chibi’s tiny brain can’t figure it out-”, “Hey!” “I will tell you. We’re in a different dimension.”

Chuuya raised his brow, “Not time travel? We’re in the 25th century.”

“Nope, I have done some research, and there isn’t any historical record about Yokohama, Ability, or even the Port Mafia. However, I don’t know the reason why we’re here. I woke up  in the hospital after my ‘Quirk’ manifested half a year ago.”

The redhead blinked at him, “... Well damn. I don’t have much information either. My memories slowly came back like 4 months ago, but I still have the memories of this version of mine.”

“It seems like it isn't as simple as our consciousnesses being put in new bodies. I would even say this is like reincarnation.” Dazai said.

Chuuya thought about what he just said and nodded his head. “... Reincarnation, huh? Not what I expected after kicking the bucket.”

His tone surprised Dazai. He didn’t think the redhead would mention the ‘death’ topic in such an unbothered manner. The way Chuuya talked about his own death as if it wasn’t important, and that it didn’t break the hearts of people who cared about him. The brunette reached out and held the other’s hand. Dazai didn’t know why he did it, but Chuuya didn’t pull out, so he just continued to squeeze lightly.

“What did you expect?” He asked.

“I don’t freaking know! Hellfire, pitchforks! I even imagined seeing you sitting on a burning throne after reclaiming your position as the devil.” Chuuya waved his other hand.

Dazai laughed a bit. After coming to this world, he had been avoiding thinking about his ‘ending’. The thing he had wanted the most was eternal sleep, but all he got was a new, confusing life that he didn’t ask for. He had been so scared of facing the reality that all he had done was for nothing, he failed, and his punishment was to continue living without a purpose. But Chuuya was here, and maybe this hell wouldn’t be so bad.

“I didn’t know Chuuya missed me that much~.” Dazai was smirking at the ginger when he saw the seriousness in Chuuya’s face.

“Of course I did.” The redhead said as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. Dazai was speechless. How could Chuuya miss him after what he had done? Missing an inhuman creature who was surrounded by violence and death? The one that Chuuya had said wanted to kill with his own hands? The one who left-

*Flick*

“Ouch!” The brunette received a flick on his forehead.

“Stop it! I can hear your fish brain overload.” Chuuya rolled his eyes. “I had a year to think about your death, plus all the months in this new life. And… Well… I-.” The redhead bit his lip, trying to collect his thoughts.

“I was so mad at you. There was even the point where I nearly lost my mind in my own grief…”

“...”

“But then, I realized that I don’t hate you.” Dazai’s eyes were wide open, watching the smaller kid continue.

“Fuck! I mean, you always had some problems going on, and being in the mafia definitely didn’t help with that!” Chuuya used the hand that was not holding others to push Dazai’s hair off his right eye.

“… I wish things could be different, but in the end, who am I to decide it for you?” Chuuya pulled his head toward, and the redhead’s forehead touched Dazai’s.

“... It’s so unfair. Since when did Slug become so cool?” Dazai pouted at the redhead.

“Shut it!” Chuuya pushed him out playfully. “So what now?” He asked.

To be honest, Dazai had no clue. The last months had been a blur. He had tried to busy himself with reading in order not to be reminded of his past. In this new, weird world, he had a family, a clean record, and a chance to follow the ‘light’. Even though he still felt like an imposter in this skin, his brain kept reminding him that this was his life now.

“Anything we want.” That was his answer for Chuuya.

“... I can work with that. Don’t you dare pull that stunt again! I’ll hunt you down and kill you for real this time!” The redhead squeezed Dazai’s hand hard.

“Won’t dream of it.” Dazai was weak, but with Chuuya by his side. He felt like he could take on the whole world.

They kept their position, still holding hands, and head side by side. Suddenly, the brunette noticed something.

“Chuuya? Why are you wearing a skirt?” Instead of the same shorts as Dazai’s uniform, the ginger was wearing a skirt of the same length.

“Oh right! I forgot to tell you. I’m a chick now.” Chuuya said with a tone as if he were discussing the weather.

“... What?” Even the genius Dazai Osamu wasn’t prepared for this.

The redhead rolled his eyes, “I have a vagina now. Blame that on the reincarnation god.”

Dazai did notice that Chuuya’s voice was way higher, but he thought it was because they were kids.

“Um… Should I call you something else?” The brunette didn’t know what he should say in this situation.

*Tch*, “I don’t really care. Just treat me like normal.” Chuuya shrugged.

“... Okay… Hey, can I tell you something?” The redhead raised his brow at him and signaled him to go on.

“I missed you, too,” Dazai said. He had missed the fire hair, their mismatched eyes, their temper, and everything. He knew he didn’t deserve Chuuya or this new life, but he couldn’t help being greedy.

“... Idiot.”

The sound of hurried footsteps triggered their guards. The former Double Black turned their face to the door leading to the rooftop.

*BAM* A young woman opened the door. She had a panicked expression, with a messy bun and disheveled clothes. She was breathing as if she had just run a marathon.

“Hah hah… You two… hah… are in big trouble.”

Inside an office, a brown-haired boy was swinging his legs happily on a chair. Next to him was a redheaded girl with a scowl on her face. The boy was holding an ice bag for the big bruise on his face. The previous woman had led them to the principal and proceeded to go out, calling their parents. So at this moment, they were sitting in front of a middle-aged woman in a blue suit.

“I don’t know what happened between you two, but fighting is against the school’s rules. Moreover, you ran out of the classroom without permission and made your teacher search around the school twice for you. Do you have anything to say about that? Mr. Dazai? Ms. Nakahara?” The principal gave them a stern look. A normal six-year-old would start crying and be scared by the idea of punishment. Unfortunately for her, these kids were anything but normal. In fact, Dazai was humming an unknown tune, and Chuuya just looked bored. Both of them had held each other’s hands since their arrival, which contrasted with the report of fighting.

“I’m sorry~ Chibi was just excited to see the little old me!” Dazai chipped with a naive face like a deer.

The redhead gazed at him, “Don’t call me that!” Chuuya turned to the principal and shrugged, “He deserves it.”

“Do I?” Dazai asked and received a mean glance from the ginger.

“... Yeah. I probably deserve it.”

Realizing this conversation wouldn’t go anywhere, the principal was frustrated and settled for waiting for the guardians. After half an hour, the first one that came was a petite woman with a braid. Her face kinda reminded him of the older version of his partner. Sharp lines, big eyes, and definitely beautiful. However, her hair color was brown, so Chuuya’s red hair and non-Asian features must have come from the other parent.

“Chu-chu!” Dazai held his laugh so he wouldn’t get kicked the second time that day. However, he knew that he would use that new name A LOT to tease the other.

“Are you alright? Did you get hurt? What happened?” The woman fussed over the redhead, and for a moment, Chuuya’s face was bright red, embarrassed by being treated like a toddler.

*Ahem*. The principal coughed to catch their attention.

“Mrs. Nakahara! Chuuya here started a fight with one of her classmates and left the class with him. Somehow, they had managed to hide on the rooftop until their teacher found them.”

“What? That doesn't sound like her at all?!”

“I assure you that we have asked the other students, checked the camera, and caught them on the rooftop.” The principal stood up and gestured to the mother to sit down. “Please take a seat. We are waiting for Dazai’s guardian to come and discuss a solution for this.”

Mrs. Nakahara took a seat next to Chuuya. She gently rubbed the ginger’s head before asking her daughter.

“Chu-chu… Can you tell me what happened? Did you hit your friend?”

The redhead mumbled, “... He isn’t my friend.”

“So did you hit him?”

“... Yes.”

“Can I ask why?”

Chuuya couldn’t really tell their new mom about their shitty situation with the previous suicidal Port Mafia boss, so they went for another obvious reason.

“His dumb face pissed me off.”

“Chuuya!” Their mom yelled. “That’s such a rude thing to say!”

On the other hand, Dazai laughed at their interaction. Seeing Chuuya act like a spoiled brat in front of someone they were comfortable with was such a rare sight. The redhead pouted and puffed their baby cheek like an angry chipmunk.

*Clack* The door opened again.

“Excuse me! I came here as soon as I could.” Dazai’s dad walked in with messy black hair and a disheveled police uniform. The man probably ran here from his work. Following him was the previous teacher who had found them on the rooftop.

The principal nodded at him, “Mr. Dazai, please sit down. I’ll explain the situation, and we can start discussing how to resolve this. Are the two of you waiting for anyone else to come?”

Daisuke shook his head, “No, my wife is at work.”

“No, it’s just me.” Chuuya’s mom said.

The female teacher explained the situation, from seeing the messy tables and chairs, starting by questioning the witnesses, to panicking and running around to find them.

The adults then tried to ask them about the reason, but failed to get any helpful answers. Dazai said so many unrelated things and then acted like he didn’t understand what they were talking about. Chuuya was unimpressed with their interrogating skills, despite having a bit of guilt for wasting their new mom’s time.  

“Because your children still refused to explain why they did it. I believe we should start with an apology from Miss. Nakahara.” The principal signed.

No way Chuuya would apologize to shitty Mackerel. Forgiving or not, the redhead was still mad about his actions in the previous life, and Dazai knew it.

“That won’t be necessary. I’m fine,” The brunette dropped the ice bag.

However, his dad insisted on it. “No, she couldn’t just hurt you and walk away with it.” The man turned to the ginger kid, “Chuuya, correct? It was wrong of you to kick Osamu without any reason. As a police officer, it’s my duty to punish injustice.” He flashed his badge and hoped to imitate the kid.

“So?” Chuuya raised one of their brows.

“... I can arrest you?” Daisuke lied.

The redhead lifted their chin and stared at the man, challenging. “Do it.” This action reminded the policeman of gangsters who enjoyed opposing authority.

“...” Daisuke opened his mouth and closed it back. This action was repeated a couple of times until the principal pitied him and suggested something else.

“How about we separate them into different classes and assign a punishment later?”

This caused Dazai to grasp dramatically and hug Chuuya as his life depended on it.

“NOOOOO! I don’t want to! How could you be so cruel to separate two soulmates, two kindred spirits, two best friends, two-.” The principal interrupted Dazai’s rambling, “Enough!”

The principal gazed at his (fake-)teary eyes, “... You guys can stay in the same class IF you promise not to fight again.”

“I promise~” Dazai chipped while still hanging on Chuuya.

The redhead rolled their eyes but also nodded, “I promise.”

Because of this incident, they both got suspended for the rest of the day (in Dazai’s case, it was more about resting his bruise). After signing some papers, both families were escorted out of the building. All the way, Dazai was holding Chuuya’s hand. Sometimes, the redhead stole a glance at the previous partner, searching for something.

“I’m so sorry! She never acted like that before. I don’t know what got to her.” Chuuya’s mother, whose full name was Nakahara Ayano, bowed to Daisuke.

“It’s fine. Kids do weird stuff all the time. Am I right?” The policeman scratched the back of his head.

“Even so, I should have taught her better. This is my number, please call me if you want compensation for your kid’s medical bill.” The adults exchanged numbers and talked about what they would do if something like this happened again.

Dazai and Chuuya were standing next to each other. Dazai didn’t want to leave the redhead’s warmth, but it would be strange for him to be way too attached to some kid he just met. He ran his thumb on the other’s smooth hand, trying to ease his ruthlessness.

“Let’s go, Osamu!” His dad called.

“...” He really didn’t want to leave.

However, Chuuya whispered to him, “Promise me you will be here tomorrow.”

“... I promise.” He squeezed their hand one last time before both of them went their separate ways.

On their way back home, his dad asked him.

“So~ are you two friends or something?”

“They’re my partner,” Dazai answered without hesitation.

Daisuke nearly choked on his split, “Do you even know what that means, son?”

“Yes. I know.” He didn’t elaborate further than that.

Chapter Text

During lunchtime, the first-grade students clumsily held the food trays and made a mess everywhere. Because Dazai and Chuuya had been suspended together on the first day of school, the only seats available were next to each other at the back of the room.

“I know I have said that I wanted to experience a normal life, but this is boring~.” Dazai swallowed a spoonful of curry rice. It had been a couple of days since the Double Black had found each other. Even though Dazai had said they could do anything they wanted, being a kid didn’t bring them a lot of options. Neither of them had gone to school before, so they wanted to try this out. However, it became boring after a while.

“I have to agree with you, Mackerel.” Chuuya took a slip of milk. “This sucks.” Everything was new for a few days, but it quickly turned into a boring routine of spelling the alphabet, doing ‘1+1’ math, and reading books about ‘Heroes’.

“My intelligence is wasted in this playhouse. Chibi, on the other hand, fits in perfectly.”

*Clank* The redhead slammed their glass of milk on the table, “Don’t test my patience, Mackerel!”

Chuuya gazed at him and picked up their spoon. “Why doesn’t Mister ‘genius’ just skip straight to college or something?” In fact, both of them could take a test and move on to a more advanced class. Dazai could score 100% on a college entrance test easily, and Chuuya was a fast learner with a talent in physics.

Dazai thought for a moment, “First of all, our parents don’t have spare time to homeschool or take us to advanced programs.” Both of his parents had their careers and were very passionate about them. Chuuya’s mom was a single mom with a full-time job as a fashion designer. And no way any of them leave their 6-year-old kids unsupervised.

“Secondly, it’s easier for us if we blend into the crowd, so they aren't suspicious of us.” Neither of them was really children, they never had a chance. They acted differently, and they knew it. If their parents noticed something strange, they risked a chance to be seen as weird or even mentally ill. Moreover, they didn’t want to change their new family's dynamic, being harmless, stupid kids, just easier for people to accept.

Therefore, in most of the classes, they spent time playing tic tac toe, talking in morse codes, taking naps, and reading actual, useful books. Dazai had wanted to skip classes, but the school could call his parents or even the police because a child going missing wasn’t something to be treated lightly.

“Chuuya~ I’m growing mold over here.” The brunette sprawled out on the tables and looked out at the cloudy sky. The redhead threw their pencil at their 236th tic-tac-toe match.

“What the fuck do you want me to do? We’re both stuck here!”

Dazai blew a raspberry and turned his head to the hallway. Outside his classroom, an old male teacher was yelling at a new teacher about her hair length. That old teacher was a nitpicker and always criticized every small error that other teachers made. He also enjoyed terrifying the students and had a superior boost from their cries. Apparently, his relative was on the school’s board, so he marched around like he owned this place.

“I have a brilliant idea!” Dazai’s eyes sparked up. Chuuya took a look at their partner and followed his eye-direction.

“Are you going to terrorize the old coot?” As expected, 7 years of partnership meant the redhead could read his intention easily.

Dazai smiled mischievously, “WE are going to terrorize the old coot. No one likes him, we just do everyone a favor.”

“I pity anyone in your demon claws.”

“How about a bet?”

“... I’m listening.” Chuuya peeked up.

“Whoever has better pranks wins a favor.” It was as if they turned back into 15-year-olds and made stupid bets after a mission.

So it began, for the next two weeks, the old teacher’s life literally became a nightmare. The teacher lost his wig in the middle of the first week, all his pens were replaced with pink glitter pens, someone changed all his phone contacts into emojis, his freaking car was found on the rooftop, someone put a beehive in his drawer, and so on. Finally, everything came to an end when his private messages with a high school girl were leaked.

Dazai and Chuuya were standing in front of their class’s window and watched the old teacher being handcuffed. After the police car drove away, Dazai cheered. 

“This means I won!”

“?! Hell no! I put a car on the rooftop. That was definitely the best prank!”

“Nuh-uh.”

“What do you mean ‘Nuh-uh’?”

“KNOCK OUT!” The TV screen showcased a flower monster being defeated.

“Take that! Ugh! It takes forever!” Chuuya threw their game console on the couch. It took both of them more than an hour to finish this level. Mainly because they had yelled, called each other names, and refused to revive the other player after their death, which led to sabotage.

“You could have picked Easy Mode.” Dazai reached for the chip bag on the coffee table.

“Easy Mode is for the weak.” Chuuya lay their head on the sofa. 

It was Saturday, and they were at Chuuya’s apartment. Chuuya’s mother, Ayano, had been called to her studio for an emergency. After the first day accident, Dazai and Chuuya always asked their parents if they could spend time together on weekends, holidays, and basically every chance they could. Their parents were happy that their kids made a friend, and agreed to ‘playdates’. For over a year, it had been the norm for them to spend time at one of their homes. Besides, the parents agreed that they only needed one adult to watch the kids, so the others could have more free time to do whatever they wanted. It was a win-win for everyone.

The redhead jumped out of the couch and headed to the kitchen. “I'm gonna make dinner. Do you want anything?”

*Crunch* The brunette bit a potato chip, “Crab.”

“We had crab cakes for lunch. Pick something else.” Chuuya pulled out a stool. They hated being unable to reach the counter, but it was something they had to accept as kids.

“Um~ Fried rice.”

Chuuya nodded and proceeded to take out the tool from the cabinets. There was some leftover rice in the cooker, so they could fix up something before Ayano got back. Dazai was still sitting on the couch, being a useless potato, but after the boiled egg accident, the redhead had banned him from the kitchen until further notice. How could he have known that eggs explode in the microwave? The mafia boss had no business being in the kitchen.

Dazai was bored, so he decided to walk around the apartment to find something to entertain himself. In a corner of the living room was Chuuya’s mom's work section. Nothing fancy, it included a desk, a chair, drawing tools, paper, and things that are necessary for clothing design. However, what grabbed his eyes was a picture frame of a young couple holding an infant. The man had striking blue eyes, red hair, and a happy, big smile on his face. That was Chuuya’s ‘father’. In this world, he had met Nakahara Ayano when she studied fashion in France. Both of them had gotten married before returning to Japan to expand their careers. Unfortunately, he passed away because of a villain attack when Chuuya was 2 years old. Chuuya said they didn’t really have any memory about the man, just some vague images in their mind.

Taking his eyes from the picture frame, Dazai headed to the kitchen to bother his beloved ginger. After fifteen minutes of struggling, Chuuya kicked the annoying fish out of the kitchen and ordered him to set the table.

The delicious smell of fried rice filled the room, and soon they both had a plate in front of them.

Chewing on a shrimp, Chuuya suddenly asked a question. “Have I ever told you about my dreams since coming to this world?”

The brunette blinked, “Your dreams? As in?”

“The thing people see in their sleep.” That was interesting information. In a previous life, Chuuya couldn't dream, and they never really had an explanation for that. It hadn’t been a topic that either of them put much effort into because that meant talking about the experiments, the lab, the clones, and Arahabaki.

“No, you haven’t.” He said.

“Well! At first, I thought it was my memory or even some Abilities messed with my head. There was this one time I woke up screaming. And my mom said I had a nightmare. I didn’t even remember what it was about, but it was shit.”

The redhead quickly finished their last bite and hopped to the sink. Dazai was playing with the last shrimp on his plate. He had a feeling that it wasn’t the only thing that his partner wanted to talk about.

“Do you think it's still there?” Dazai asked the redhead.

“...” Chuuya stayed quiet. This was a hard subject for them, being questioned about their humanity, and their position being a vessel of a god. 

“I don’t know.” That was their answer.

Dazai put down his spoon, “Want to find out?” 

The brunette held out his hand. Chuuya snapped their head at him. Their face made a frown, and they looked hesitant to accept his request.

“What if they’re still in me?” Chuuya walked to him.

“Since when does that stop you from kicking asses?” Dazai could understand their worry about Arahabaki locked inside them like a time bomb. However, in the beginning, the ginger had embraced all the destruction and turned it into something to protect their so-called home. If anyone could be strong enough to keep a god in place, it would be Chuuya.

The brunette grabbed the other's wrist and walked toward the front door, “Let’s head to somewhere safe.” Activating Corruption in a closed space wasn’t a good idea.

The kids found a nearly empty park and picked a deserted corner far away from the citizens.

“I’m here, Chuuya.” Dazai was facing his partner, his hand hovering near their face, but not enough to touch the soft skin.

Chuuya slowly closed their eyes and took a deep breath.

“O acquaintances, grantors of dark disgrace, do not wake me again.”

And they waited.

And waited.

…

Nothing happened.

The redhead looked down and examined their hands. Pale skin with hints of freckles, and most importantly, no crimson pattern on their skin.

“... Chuuya?” Dazai asked his partner. Chuuya’s shoulders started shaking.

A small chuckle came from the ginger, which soon became a full manic laugh.

“HA HA HA HA HA!!” Chuuya held their stomach and nearly folded in half. Their whole body was shaking. On their face was a full grin showing off their canines.

The gravity manipulator held their face with both hands but failed to quieten their crazy laugh.

“Ha ha- All this - ha - fucking time! GONE! Just like that! Ha ha ha!”

Dazai didn’t know how to react. His hand still hovered over the redhead.

After a few minutes, the laughter died down. Chuuya removed their hands from their face. They were breathless, blush bloomed on their cheeks, and tears were streaming down from their gorgeous eyes. Chuuya carelessly wiped the tears from their face.

“Let’s head back.” The brunette whispered.

“... Okay,” Chuuya’s voice sounded broken. All the way back, Dazai held the other’s hand despite the wetness.

Dazai Osamu was sitting on a couch holding a thick book. In the background, the loud sound of excited crowds came from the TV screen, but the brunette paid no mind to it. All his attention was placed on the pages of ‘Quirk Biology’. Since he had come to this world, he had noticed the changes in their Abilities or now so-called Quirks. The words didn’t appear when they used their powers, but the red of ‘Upon the Tainted Sorrow’ and blue lights of ‘No Longer Human’ remained. They still haven’t tested the physical drawback of their Quirks, but Chuuya said their power felt the same as before. Knowing how strong Chuuya’s power was, it could draw unwanted attention. Then there was the whole Arahabaki thing. Did it disappear? Or were there different ways to activate it that were tied to Quirk?

“I can’t believe they canceled the Olympics for this.” Chuuya’s voice snapped Dazai out of his thoughts.

The TV was showing a bunch of teenagers playing paintball. They were wearing blue, red, and white P.E. uniforms, and those colors clashed horribly. However, paintball wasn't the main purpose of this show, the teenagers and their Quirks were. This was the nationally famous dog fight, aka the U.A yearly Sports Event. On the screen, the students from U.A Hero courses were showcasing their flashy Quirks and trying to blast their classmates to the other side of the stadium.

“What do they teach these kids? Their fighting skills are horrible.” The redhead commented.

“Those are the first year, Chu-chu. Maybe the third year is better?” Dazai suggested. The fights didn’t interest him, but apparently this was an important cultural event of 25th century Japan. In fact, the reason they were watching this in the first place was that their parents wanted to have a watching party. His parents invited Ayano to their apartment for lunch and to watch the sports event together.

A woman's voice came from the kitchen, “- do you mean you can’t go home now?... You agreed to another shift? It’s Sunday, Daisuke! You always do this-.”

“... Fine! Don’t do this again!” It seemed like his dad was gonna miss the Sport Event. Chuuya gazed at him to see how he reacted, but turned back to the screen when they realized Dazai was unbothered by his family situation.

Chapter Text

Chuuya kicked the ball straight to the goal, and the crowd went wild. The number between their school team and the opponent was 5 to 1. Dazai honestly felt bad for those kids, one kid with a horn on their head was literally about to burst into tears.

“Nice! Keep going, Nakahara!” The coach yelled.

It wasn’t an achievement going against elementary schoolers, but Chuuya wasn’t interested in sitting around and being a bookworm like Dazai. For obvious reasons, they couldn’t just go around and pick fights like they used to, so the only solution was to join a sports club to relieve stress. At first, the redhead joined a dojo, but after managing to break the jaw of a black belt, Chuuya was recommended to participate in something that wouldn’t involve directly hurting people. That was the beginning of their journey to becoming a legendary athlete.

The Quirks society made it difficult to divide a fair playfield so instead of a man and a woman category, people decided to put everyone into one mixed category. This led to the people on the sports team usually having physically enhanced Quirks or mutant Quirks. The only sports team in their school that allowed using Quirks was soccer, so Chuuya went with that. Dazai remembered watching his Chibi standing between kids twice their size. They looked at the ginger and only saw a cute, tiny girl. That was until Chuuya smoked all of them in speed, strength, and duration. 

A powerful Quirk, high grades, and a pretty face made Chuuya quickly become one of the highest individuals on their little school's social hierarchy. The kids either adored or envied them. However, Chuuya didn’t have enough patience for those kids. Most of the befriending attempts usually ended up being swept away, the challenges ended up being ignored, or the other kid surrendered under the redhead’s ultimate power. The most annoying thing was some boys’ stupid childish act of pulling pigtails.

In a self-study class, a blue-haired boy was flashing his All Might expensive figure and received a lot of attention from his peers.

“Hey! Don’t touch it! This is called a limited figure, it costs a lot of money. My mum said only future great heroes can play with it.” The other kids followed with “Woa!” and “Oh!”

The boy whose name was Oyama Taro looked proud of himself and searched the small crowd surrounding him. He realized that the girl he wanted to impress wasn’t there. Nakahara Chuuya was sitting at their table playing Battleship with the guy that she was always with. 

The blue-haired boy couldn’t understand why Nakahara could hang out with that freak. Dazai Osamu never showed his Quirks, always wearing weird bandages on his arms and neck as a ‘fashion statement’. And he chased away all the kids who wanted to befriend Nakahara. But that didn’t matter, if Taro could show how much of a hero he was, Nakahara would head over heels for him. 

Feeling confident with his plan, Taro walked to the duo.

“G-4,” The brunette said.

“Hit. B-2,” Chuuya continued.

“Hit. F-10.”

“Hit. A-5.”

“Hit. It’s a tie again.” Dazai turned the board to Chuuya.

“What’s the score?” 

“59 ties, and 2 wins for me.”

“... Why are we still playing this game?” The redhead closed the board lid. Taro used this moment to start a conversation.

“Nakahara! Do you want to play with my limited All Might figure?”

The ginger turned to the newcomer and gazed at the doll suspiciously. This could be a trick, and the curse doll of Q was the first thing that popped into their mind. Chuuya didn’t even know the kid, but children didn’t need a reason to be cruel. In the previous life, they had witnessed Q controlling their subordinates and making them slaughter each other because of an insignificant tantrum.

“No thanks.” The redhead turned back to the board game.

“What? But it’s All Might!” The kid said as if that was a convincing reason.

Chuuya raised their brow, “I’m sure that you have friends who want to play with you.”

“Come on! You never played with any of your classmates. You always hang out with that fre- him.” He pointed rudely at Dazai, who was watching this amusingly.

The ginger should find a way to chase this dumb kid before Dazai finds a way to torment him. Pinching their nose bridge like a tired adult, Chuuya told the blue-haired boy to fuck off in the most polite way they could.

“Look! I’ll spell it out for you. I don't want to. Go somewhere else.”

At this point, the whole class was paying attention to their conversation and saw Taro being rejected. The boy was red with frustration, and he glanced at both of them before staring hard at the brown-haired. 

“This isn’t over! You will regret mocking me!”  Taro then stomped away.

“Kids are so dramatic, right?” Dazai rearranged his board.

The redhead looked at him blankly as if they were asking, ‘Aren’t you also like that?’

Dazai was in the library waiting for Chuuya to finish soccer practice when he found himself surrounded by the blue-haired kid and two large kids from the 5th or 6th grade.

“I don't know what she sees in you, but stay away from Nakahara!” Taro - The kid with the doll demanded.

Dazai held back a smirk and tilted his head, “And if I don’t.”

“Then let's see if your lame Quirk can beat all of us!” Taro held out his hand, and a fire appeared.

The flame was weak, though, and the threat was so unoriginal. Dazai would give this a 2/10. 

The brunette unbothered, flipping to the next page of his book, “How much did he pay you to beat me up?” He asked one of the big kids with claws on his fingers.

“500 yen-” “Don’t answer him, idiot!” The other, with a wolf's head, yelled at the kid.

How the mighty Black Wraith had fallen. Dazai would like to argue that he was worth more than 500 yen, but the priority was to get out of this situation. These were elementary schoolers, if he needed Chuuya for this, he didn’t deserve to sit in the boss's chair in the first place. The important question was how to resolve this without leaving too much trauma for the kids. It wasn’t that he cared, but the teachers were onto him after so many of his pranks. Obviously, they couldn’t prove anything, but that didn’t stop them from trying to dig dirt on him.

The brunette closed the book and sighed, “Let’s get this over with.”

Apparently, his tone made Claws-For-Fingers mad, and he threw his right arm. Instead of dodging the sharp claws, Dazai held up his book to block the attack. The claw dug deep into the book and stuck there. The wolf kid was about to jump into the fight but a shout from his friend stopped him.

“AHHHHH! WHERE ARE MY CLAWS?” The other bullies turned to Claws-For-Fingers and saw his claws disappear from both his hands. Both looked confused and somewhat scared.

However, no one paid attention to the way that Dazai was holding the ruined book. After successfully trapping the kid’s hand, one of Dazai’s fingers touched the skin on the palm of the other kid, and he made sure to keep it there.

“Do you want to know what my Quirk is?” Dazai smiled sweetly at the kids, which gave them the chills. There weren't any emotions in his void-like eyes. Just pure darkness.

“W-what did you do?” Taro asked.

“Well~, I simply took away his Quirk,” Dazai said like that wasn’t a big deal.

“WHAT!?” Claws-For-Fingers burst into tears. The other paled at his words and froze as statues.

Dazai continued to smile innocently, “Do you want to know what my Quirk is?” He repeated the question.

The kids didn’t answer. Only Claws-For-Fingers whispered between his hiccups, “Noo… hic… Give it back… huh… hic-.”

“I erase other people’s Quirk.” ‘Temporary’ was left unsaid intentionally. The idea of losing a thing that defines someone’s value in this society was terrifying. That was enough to deal with these kids.

The wolf kid was the first one to bait, “Shit! I won’t lose my Quirk for 500 yen!”

Seeing the older kid bolt out of the room, Taro glanced at the other one, who was weeping. Then Dazai’s eyes met the blue-haired kid, and Taro made a decision to follow the wolf kid.

The brunette immediately dropped the book along with the hand of the Claws-For-Fingers. The claws didn’t grow back but Dazai didn’t know about how his Quirk worked, so they probably came back later. 

Ignoring the kid’s pleading to give back his Quirk, Dazai grabbed his backpack and headed to the grass field. Chuuya must have finished with the practice now.

Dazai didn’t have much faith in them, but those kids were such a bunch of snitches. The next day, all the kids in his class had been avoiding him all day and whispering behind his back. A boy from another class even called him a ‘Villain’ before Chuuya kicked them out their way.

“What did you do?” The redhead asked.

Dazai pretended to put both hands on his chest and gasped dramatically, “Chibi’s doubting me! Me! After all we have gone through?”

“Cut the bullshit! What. Did. You. Do?”

“Well-” 

“Dazai Osamu, come with me.” The homeroom teacher called him suddenly.

Soon, Dazai found himself in front of a familiar desk with the tired principal. Claws-For-Fingers, Wolf face, and Taro were also here, looking at him in fear. He got a feeling that the day Chuuya and he graduate from this school, the teachers would light fireworks to celebrate. Until then, if Dazai had to suffer under the elementary school system, he would make others suffer with him.

“Thank you so much for bringing him home, Nakahara-san.” Daisuke bowed while thanking Ayano for bringing Dazai back home. His mom was supposed to pick him up from school today, but she had received important news about a big attack with a famous hero and needed to be there for an interview.

It wasn’t the first time that Chuuya’s mom had brought him back home. Because of their demanding careers, both of his parents had missed picking him up or attending his important events. However, Dazai wasn’t an unreasonable child. Mentally speaking, he would be in his mid-twenties by now. He understood their situations, but that didn’t mean that his parents understood theirs.

After Masa got back home, his dad told him to go to his room and close the door. Dazai did just that, except leaving a small gap for eavesdropping.  

“I can’t believe that you just left Osamu like that!” Daisuke raised his voice at his wife.

“I didn’t! I called Ayano-san.” Masa responded.

“We can’t always rely on other people to take care of our kid! Why didn’t you call me?”

“Because it wouldn’t matter, you always turned off your phone.”

“I was on duty-”

His mom cut him off, “Exactly!”

Dazai closed his bedroom door, successfully cutting out the yelling. His new parents weren’t bad people, but they had some problems that needed to be dealt with. A part of him wondered if he had acted like a normal, happy child, things could have been better.

Taking out his phone that he received on his 10th birthday, Dazai typed his mom’s news publisher website. On the front page was an image of All Might next to a photo of a destroyed landscape. The article acknowledged All Might’s participation in the battle, but didn’t say anything about the defeated Villain. There was a suggestion from the writer about a Villain named ‘Toxic Chainsaw’, but it was generally not confirmed. The Hero had quickly left the scene, so there wasn’t much information. Dazai was about to zoom into the photo to examine it further, but stopped when someone knocked on his door.

“Osamu? Can Mom and Dad talk with you?” His mom asked from outside the door.

It seemed that his parents had reached a solution. Dazai clicked out the article and joined his family in the living room.

Chapter Text

Dazai peeked out of his bedroom door. On the balcony, his mom was arguing with someone on her phone. It was nighttime, but thousands of artificial lights in this city easily overpowered the stars. The brunette boy closed his door carefully and grabbed his backpack from his study desk. He opened the lock on the windows and jumped down the emergency stairs below it. Soon his feet hit the street, and he started heading in a familiar direction.

Humming an unknown tune, the brunette walked without any bother. He took a shortcut through an empty alley with a confident attitude. It wasn’t that Naruhata district was safe. In fact, there had been an increase in the crime rate recently, and even some Heroes’ agencies had left for better-paying areas of Tokyo. That couldn’t stop Dazai from walking in the middle of the night to see his favorite ginger. Passing a convenience store, he grabbed two pudding cups and a small carton of strawberry milk.

“Um… Sorry, I know it isn’t my business, but should you be out here this late, kid?” 

Dazai turned his head to the voice. The cashier who had just asked him was a young man with short black hair and a forgettable face. However, the boy was surprised that a stranger even bothered to show any concern about his well-being. He had lived in this world for over six years, and he noticed that people tended to leave any inconvenience for the so-called Heroes.

“I’m fine. My house is nearby.” It wasn’t.

He continued his journey to the backside of a building complex. His target was apartment number 8 on the fourth floor. Grabbing the rusty bar of the emergency staircase, Dazai pulled himself up and climbed on the old staircase. Finally, he stopped at a window and knocked in a familiar pattern. Three loud knocks and two small knocks. Dazai could pick the lock, but he wasn't in the mood for being hit by a heavy gravity object. After taking off his shoes, he opened the window and jumped into the room.

“You’re late,” Chuuya said without looking at him.

The redhead was lying on their stomach, reading a manga. They were wearing pajamas, hair tied up into a messy bun, and using a cartoon crab plushie as a pillow. The bedroom smelled like Wisteria flower, so they must have just come out of the shower.

Dazai pouted and waved the bag in his hand, “And I was being a nice person to bring my Slug some snacks. Guess it’s all mine now.”

Chuuya raised their head at him. “What did you get?”

Dazai took out the drink and threw the rest of the bag to Chuuya. Easily catching it, the redhead’s face lit up seeing the item in the bag.

“Puddings!”

On the other side of the room, Dazai put his backpack down and took out a change of clothes.

“Do you still have warm water?” He asked, walking to the bathroom that was attached to Chuuya’s room.

“The heater’s still on. Why didn’t you take a shower at home?”

“I need an excuse to use your fancy shampoo.”

“Don’t fucking spill it and fill it with water like last time. I would chuck the whole bottle down your throat.”

“How violent~.”

The brunette closed the bathroom door and left the new set of clothes on the sink. He went to Chuuya’s place often enough that he had his own toothbrush, towel, and a drawer with only his clothes in it. It wasn't that he hated his home or something, but why stay in his boring room when he could crash into Chuuya's place instead?

Turned off the shower head, he quickly dried himself and put the clothes on. Water was dripping down his white sweater. He put the towel around his neck and went back to the bedroom. Chuuya had finished their cup of pudding and was checking something on their phone.

“Can I copy your math homework?” Dazai grabbed the last pudding cup and sat on the bed.

“I know you can do it yourself. You lazy fish!”

Dazai put a spoonful of pudding in his mouth and pretended to think, “Um~ Nah.”

Chuuya kicked him, and the brunette fell out of the bed. “Chibi is so mean to me,” He whined.

“Stay still, Mackerel.” Chuuya took out a hair dryer from the drawer and proceeded to dry the brunette’s hair. Dazai finished the pudding after a minute but sat quietly and enjoyed the soft fingers through his hair.

The rest of the night was peaceful. They chatted, finished their homework, and played video games as they always did. In moments like this, they were nothing more than two normal junior high schoolers.

When it was time for bed, Chuuya rolled themselves into a burrito and commanded Dazai to turn off the light. Dazai complained, but did that and then jumped on the bed.

“Chibi, stop hoarding the blanket!” After a few seconds of struggling, the brunette successfully acquired half of his share and wrapped himself around Chuuya like an octopus.

*Tap, tap*

Chuuya was walking through an empty hallway. Their leather shoes hit the marble floor. Their shadow cut through the colorful lights from the beautiful stained glass window.

*Tap, tap*

In front of them was a black void, but they kept walking. Why were they walking again?

*Tap, tap*

They couldn’t seem to reach the end of the hallway, though. Chuuya felt like Achilles and the tortoise, being the mysterious destination.

*Tap*

Chuuya stopped. A huge wooden double door appeared at the end of the hallway.

They knew this door.

‘He’ knew this door.

Like a puppet on strings, the redhead mechanically put his hands on the heavy door and pushed. 

The door revealed a big office. Its floor was the checkerboard pattern. In the middle of the room was a carpet and two velvet armchairs. There was a desk at the back of the room, but Chuuya couldn’t really see it from his position. The only light in this office was from the sunset through the full-glass wall. The desk was surrounded by bookshelves that were high enough to touch the ceiling, perfectly hiding the entire view of the desk in their shadows.

Chuuya couldn’t think. He continued to walk forward.

When he stepped on the red carpet, a wet sound caught his attention. Chuuya looked down and saw that the carpet had a large puddle of dark red liquid. That couldn’t stop him as the redhead kept going, leaving the red footprints with each step he took.

Passing through the red carpet, Chuuya turned his head to the left, where the full-glass wall was. Hitting his eyes was a breathtaking view of the ocean and the entire city next to it. The sunset colored the city with a variety of shades of orange and blew into it a soul.

The redhead felt a sense of longing and a deep grief seeing this view.

Finally, Chuuya reached the desk at the back.

There was someone in the chair behind the desk. Shadow hid the man’s features, but Chuuya could draw the man even when he closed his eyes. Messy dark brown hair, a big dark eye staring at your soul, his left eye covered with bandages, a black suit, and a long red scarf. Chuuya took a step closer to see the man more clearly.

“There you are. Where have you been, Chuuya?” The man asked. 

Chuuya stood there, frozen at the spot. The man smiled at him sweetly. There was blood leaking down from his head. The red soaked through his hair, his white bandage, and slowly covered the pale skin. The ‘man’ that was sitting on the chair was nothing more than a disfigured corpse of Dazai Osamu.

Didn’t receive an answer from the redhead, the corpse tilted its head in confusion and stood up. However, the moment it stood up, the corpse collapsed. The disgusting sound of the body’s liquid and flesh falling snapped Chuuya out of his own terror. The redhead jumped over the desk and grabbed Dazai’s body, which was only a mess of bones and flesh at this point. Chuuya tried to hopelessly collect the rotting flesh as if that could bring Dazai back. Blood was everywhere. 

And then everything in the room, including Chuuya, blended together into a puddle of red.

-

“Hah!” Chuuya woke up from the nightmare. Their heart was beating crazily. A drop of sweat rolled down their cheek, and their whole body was slightly shaking.

It took Chuuya a full minute to be aware of their situation. The bedroom was dark with just a hint of dawn shining through the curtain. A warm body lay next to them. Their limbs tangled with each other’s.

Chuuya stared quietly at the face next to them. Young, peaceful, and with no bandage covering his left eye. The redhead placed two fingers on Dazai’s neck and sighed in relief when they felt a pulse. However, this action woke up the sleeping person.

“Hum... Chuuya?” Dazai whispered, still only half awake.

“... Nothing. Go back to sleep.” The redhead tried not to let any emotion leak through their tone.

After making sure Dazai had fallen back to sleep, Chuuya carefully removed themselves from the bed and went to the bathroom.

*Click* The door closed, and Dazai slowly opened his eyes. The brunette raised his hand and touched the warm space on his neck.

Ayano was making her first cup of coffee of the day when she heard a knocking sound from the front door. There was only one person who would visit Nakahara’s household this early.

“Must be your friend, Chu-chu!” Leaving her kid with their unfinished bento boxes, Ayano walked to the door and greeted their guest. “Good Morning, Osamu! Right time as always!”

“Good Morning, Ayano-san!” Dazai waved his hand.

The brunette had changed into his school uniform, climbed out the window, and taken the stairs back to the fourth floor. Ayano didn’t know that Dazai basically spent more than half a week at Chuuya’s place. She was a nice person, but it would raise some concern if she knew he slept over nearly every night, so the best way was to sneak in and out. To the outsiders, Dazai was a good kid who walked his friend to school every day.

“Did you have breakfast? Come join us!” Ayano gestured to a chair at the dining table.

“If you don’t mind.” He said.

“Nonsense! You and Chu-chu have been friends forever. No need to be shy.”

“As if he knows what that word even means,” Chuuya spoke up from the kitchen. They had finished wrapping a bento box and handed it to their mom.

“There you go, Mom! I made grilled salmon for lunch.”

“Thank you, Chu-chu! But next time, let me do it.”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind.”

“Such a mature and responsible daughter that I have.” Ayano hugged her kid and left for work right after that.

Dazai marched to the kitchen like he owned the place and grabbed a piece of toast. Meanwhile, Chuuya continued to prepare their bento and slapped Dazai’s hand away when he tried to take a cherry tomato from the lunch box.

Both of them had started their first year of Junior High about a week ago. Their parents finally allowed them to walk themselves to school alone and gave them more freedom to hang out without a supervisor. For the purpose of not being babysat every time, during these years, Dazai and Chuuya had been acting as intelligent and responsible children in front of their new families. If their classmates and teachers had other things to say about that, they couldn’t prove it anyway.

Despite the change in their school's environment, Dazai couldn’t say there were any differences between elementary school and secondary school. More advanced lessons still didn’t bring enough challenge for him, their peers were boring and obnoxious as always, and there was also the same never-ending talk about Pro Heroes. However, one thing became more and more noticeable.

“Your Quirk is so cool!”

“I wish mine were like yours.”

“That’s such a boring Quirk!”

“Hey, guys! Look at my Quirk!”

“I heard someone from class 1-C is Quirkless.”

“His head looks so weird.”

“Hey! Does that guy look like a Villain to you?”

It wasn’t that these kinds of talks didn’t happen in his previous school, but as years passed, these kids became more and more judgmental about other peoples’ Quirks. It could simply be the effect of the over-glorified Pro Heroes system. These people grew up blindly worshipping so-called ultimate powers. Believing their Quirks were somewhat special. At some point in their life, they would realize they weren’t the one in a million and give up before even trying. 

The world was an unfair place, and Dazai understood that. What he couldn’t understand was why people could be so narrow-minded, judging someone based on one thing that they couldn’t even control. Humankind didn’t come this far because of Quirks. In fact, Quirks were one of the main reasons why many science fields didn't have much progress in the last centuries, and they acted like Quirks were the only thing defining a person.

The teachers weren’t that much help. In contrast, most of them encouraged this unspoken ranking system by asking the kids to talk about their Quirks in their introductions. Not about your grades, hobbies, favorite book, or anything that made you, well, ‘You’. Some of them even showed clear favoritism for kids with potential Quirks. These kids got away with everything and all because the school wanted them to have clean records in case they managed to land in a Hero program, so that the school could brag about it.

Ability users, Quirks, Powers, or not. Dazai believed that every piece in chess has its value, with enough effort, even a mere pawn can become the Queen. Humans were capable of creating miracles. If not, that was guns for. 

And speaking of the Queen.

“Chuuya~! Can I have a bite? Pretty please~!” Dazai blinked his eyes repeatedly at the ginger.

“...Fine! Only one bite.” 

“Yay!” Dazai took a large bite from the salmon and, right after, successfully dodged the chopstick aimed at his head.

On their way walking back from their junior high, they were blocked by a small crowd. Someone was dancing and singing on a street light, and many people gathered under the sidewalk below to cheer them on. Moving closer to the crowd, the duo saw that the one performing on the lamp pole was a young girl with pink bubblegum hair. 

“Hey! Everyone! Thanks for showing up today! Here is another song for you!” Bubblegum-haired shouted into a wireless microphone.

However, the song wasn’t what Chuuya paid attention to.

“What the fuck is she wearing?” The redhead made a frown. 

The singing girl was wearing a black tight mini bodysuit with small black bat wings attached to her back, and knee-length black boots. Her face was covered only with a domino mask to protect her identity. The outfit was one of those kinds of cheap, sexy Halloween costumes that you can buy from any store in October. For some reason, many of the Pro Heroes’ outfits also leaned into this distasteful kind of fashion, so most of the time, you couldn’t even differentiate between them and the dressed-up weirdos. Therefore, there was a 50% chance that this girl was one of those creeps or an actual Pro Hero. Chuuya couldn’t tell.

Her voice was nice, but as in the karaoke level nice. However, the crowd kept cheering and taking photos of her. The crowd was mainly men in their late teens and twenties. They got pretty excited every time the pink-haired raised her legs. Her mini skirt barely covered anything.

“Hey! The cops' re on their way!” Someone yelled at the performer. The girl hurriedly ended her show and bounced away. Her Quirk must be some kind of flying or enhanced jumping kind.

“Huh?! Is this show illegal?” Chuuya asked out loud. The redhead was asking Dazai, but the guy who just pointed out the cops answered instead.

“You don’t know her?” The duo turned to the guy standing next to them and shook their heads.

The guy continued, “She’s a street idol named Pop Step. They don’t have permission to perform either using their Quirk.”

“Does she perform around here often?” Dazai asked, and the guy nodded. That would explain why they hadn’t seen her before. Their old school wasn’t in this direction, so they didn't have a reason to pass this area until recently.

“Ah! What am I doing? I’m about too late for work!” The guy yelled suddenly and put both his hands on the ground.

“Hah? What’re you-?” Chuuya was about to question his strange action, but the guy was sliding away. Literally, the guy was on four of his limbs and was sliding at the speed of a slow bicycle.

“... Does he look like a cockroach to you?” Dazai pointed at the guy.

“Honestly, I don’t fucking understand these Quirks,” Chuuya said.

Art note: Chuuya and Dazai in middle school (from 12 to 15 years old). The angle that I use make them look taller.

Chapter Text

Friday 05:12 pm

Mom: I will be home late today

Can you buy yourself dinner? I will transfer the money.

> Received 2000 yen

Me: Can I stay over at Chu-chu’s? (◕‿◕✿)

Mom: You can. But remember to ask Ayano-san first.

Me: Yay! ε===(っ≧ω≦)っ

It was late, Chuuya’s mom had gone to bed early, so they had to make sure not to wake her up when sneaking out. Chuuya put on their sneakers, a simple gray hoodie, and shorts with athletic leggings, while Dazai was wearing a long-sleeved black sweater and a sweatpants. The redhead was the first one to jump out the window and go down the emergency stairs. Dazai was one step behind them.

Why were they sneaking out at this unholy hour of the night?

“Not this one.” Dazai walked through the snack aisles, checking different chip bags.

“This is the third convenience store! If this doesn’t have your trashy snack, we’re going back!” Chuuya yelled at the brunette. The tired cashier looked up from the phone at the yelling, but then shrugged and couldn’t be bothered to care about what some kids were doing outside in the middle of the night.

The reason that they were there was because Dazai saw a commercial about a new crab-flavored snack and insisted that he had to try it right away. Chuuya went with him because someone needed to ensure the Mackerel wouldn’t accidentally commit a felony.

“That is because Chibi has such terrible taste! I swear all the alcohol in the past lives has ruined- Oh! There it is!” Dazai held up a bright package with a cartoon crab on it. Chuuya couldn’t be more unimpressive with his dramatic display.

The redhead grabbed a cherry soda on their way out of the store, and they checked out the items. The street was empty, but neither of them cared about any shadow that could be jumping on them.

“STOP! GET OFF ME!” A shout from a woman came from a nearby alley. Many noises were coming from the same place, and from what the Double Black could analyse, there were more than three people.

Dazai glanced at his partner and saw anger on their face. Chuuya didn’t say a word and threw the bag with the can of soda at him before dashing into the alley. For someone who always denied being a good person, the redhead was always ready to jump in to help innocent people. The brunette unhurriedly walked to the fight.

In the dark and narrow alley, a pink-haired girl was surrounded by two thugs, a muscled bald guy and a lizard mutant. On the other side of the alley, a guy wearing an All Might hoodie was lying on the ground after being kicked down by a spiky-haired man.

From his tiptoes, Spiky-haired grew out three large spikes and swung his foot at the All-Might hoodie guy.

“OUCH!” The hoodie guy, whose first name was Koichi, managed to dodge but still received a big cut on his face.

“STOP! POLICE- AH!” The bald guy covered the girl's mouth to stop her screaming.

“Oh no! The police! So scary!” He laughed at her struggling.

The lizard mutant laughed with him, “Why not yell for a hero instead? Try it! All Might, help me! He he!”

“Mgh!” The pink-haired girl started to cry. Koichi felt helpless as he was about to be punched by a fist full of spikes.

“Oi! You have 3 seconds to release them!” Someone spoke up from the exit of the alley.

For a moment, Koichi hoped that a hero or a policeman had heard their shout and come to rescue them. His heart immediately sank when his eyes landed on a short girl with red hair standing at the head of the alley.

“Hah? Who are you brat?” The spiky-haired guy dropped his fist to ask the girl.

“3.” Her right brown eye pierced right through them.

“Go somewhere else!” The lizard yelled.

“2” Her left blue eye reflected the moonlight.

“Does a little girl want to play the hero?” The bald guy gazed mockingly at the kid.

“1” Soft light from the street lamp bounced off her red hair.

“RUN, KID!” Koichi shouted at the little girl. He couldn’t save himself or Pop Step over there, but he didn’t want a child to get hurt because of his incapacity.

The girl was at the head of the alley. 

In a blink and as fast as a bullet, she was in front of Spiky-haired. Her entire body was covered in a dark red aura.

“Wha-?!” Before Spiky-haired could react, the girl kicked him in the stomach. The spiky guy literally flew back from the force and landed straight on the concrete ground.

A loud *THUMP* of a body successfully grabbed everyone’s attention. No one could believe their own eyes at what had happened.

The redhead turned to the two men who were holding Pop Step. She angled her body and pushed herself toward the thugs. The bald guy raised his hand, but she easily blocked it. The crimson aura quickly covered the bald guy, and he was slammed heavily into the wall by a mysterious force. There were even cracks appearing on the wall.

Witnessing this, the lizard man paled and tried to flee the scene.

“Leaving the party so soon?” A brunette child was blocking the alleyway. He gave the lizard mutant a harmless smile before swinging the bag with the soda can at him. The metal can hit the guy’s face hard and knock him to the ground.

“...”

“...”

Everything happened so quickly that Koichi didn’t know what to say. He was still proceeding with the fact that it wasn’t the Heroes but two kids who had saved them.

“You guys should report them.” A high-pitched voice snapped Koichi from his shocked state.

“... What?” He asked.

The ginger kid raised her brow, “Did you hit your head? Call the cops.” The girl then headed back to where the boy was standing.

“KYAAA!” All of them turned to the scream. While they were talking, Spiky-haired had woken up and grabbed Pop Step.

“Beaten by a fucking kid! I won’t let you make a fool outta me! I'm gonna claw the heck out of this bitch’s face.” He raised his spiky fist while holding the pink-haired girl hostage.

*Tch* The redhead kid clicked her tongue. 

Chuuya could get the pink-haired girl out, but it could risk a few scars on her face. They were about to find another way to get to her when a huge figure fell on the trash bags behind Spiky-haired.

*THUMP*

“I’M HERE!” The big figure yelled.

“?!” That was Chuuya and Dazai’s reaction.

Koichi didn’t really think at that moment. He just knew that the guy holding Pop Step was distracted so he took action and tackled Spiky-haired.

“Ack!” Spiky-haired yelped at the impact.

*SLAM* Both Spiky-haired and Koichi fell back to the ground.

Pop Step was released, and she immediately used her Quirk to jump up the nearby rooftop.

“GOOD JOB, KID!” The man, who had fallen on the trash bags, yelled at Koichi.

The man then ran up to Spiky-haired and punched the guy in the face. With a FREAKING METAL KNUCKLE.

The Spiky guy was finally knocked out for good.

The man walked to the unconscious body and pulled out the guy’s tongue. Chuuya only wanted to rescue the girl and she had escaped through the rooftop, so they didn’t really have a reason to stay for whatever this was. However, Dazai had another thing in his mind as he observed the man’s actions.

“Hmm… No weird colors. Not this guy. Let’s check his ID just to be sure.” The man mumbled. He then moved on to the Bald guy and repeated the same thing.

Suddenly, the man grabbed Koichi as he was trying to sneak out.

“YOU!”

“Ah. Um… I’m not with them!” Koichi said quickly. 

“That isn’t what I mean. I need an assistant. There’s a new drug passing around, and I need to track it down. So help me out on the job, and I’ll make you a true Hero.” The man let go of Koichi after the explanation.

Chuuya and Dazai exchanged a look but remained quiet.

Koichi was shaking when he managed to speak up, “Ah… Not interested. Um.. I’ll just be… leaving now.” And he slowly moved away from the man.

“LIAR!” The man yelled, and Koichi literally jumped up like a rabbit.

“I have seen you wearing the All Might hoodie while helping the citizens around this area. You expected me to believe you aren't interested in hero work?”

“Yeah… I did that. But with my goofy Quirk… I just don’t have what it takes to go Pro.” Koichi said.

“And why not?”

“Eh? Why… not?”

“Strong Quirks? The stuff to go Pro? That crap’s got nothing to do with true justice.” Chuuya tilted their head at the man’s speech.

“At the most important moment, when it’s clear what’s gotta be done. Do you take action or not?! All you need to be a hero is the right answer to that question!!”

“... Wait. So you don’t have a hero license?” Koichi finally observed the man. He was wearing a long black cloak, a half-head bandage that covered his eyes, and two huge metal knuckles on his fists. The guy looked nothing like a police officer, and if he wasn’t a Pro Hero then…

“The name’s Knuckle Duster! Starting today. I’m gonna teach you what it takes to do hero work.” Knuckle Duster ignored Koichi’s question.

He raised the knuckle on his right hand and declared, “You will understand how good it feels to pound those Villains!!”

“Um… I have to refuse-” “Hold on a second!” Koichi was interrupted by the brunette kid. Koichi didn’t even notice the boy had moved right next to him.

“Let’s see what the old man has to say, Mister - Uh - All Might fanboy!” Dazai slapped Koichi's back as if they were long-time friends.

“... Huh?”

Koichi didn’t know he ended up in this situation. Here he was, in his apartment, with three strangers that he had met half an hour ago. The two kids who had saved him from the thugs were sitting in the middle of the room. The brunette boy had opened a chip bag and was eating happily. The ginger girl was looking around suspiciously. The man - Knuckle Duster, had somehow stolen his wallet and was currently checking his ID.

“Haimawari Koichi, age 19, freshman at Hitonami University. I’ll call you Koichi then.”

“Hey! Don’t go through my stuff!” Koichi took back his wallet from Knuckle Duster.

“And why are you kids here? Ever heard of stranger danger?” He accusedly pointed at the smaller figures in the room.

Chuuya folded their arms, “We were the ones that saved your ass. If you get beaten by those losers, then I think I can handle you.”

That hurt Koichi’s pride, but he wouldn’t show it.

“That’s settled then. From now on, you’ll call me Master.” Knuckle Duster said suddenly.

“What? No?! How did you even get to that? I told you, I’m not gonna be your apprentice! Get out of my house!” Koichi yelled at Knuckle Duster. He then turned to the kids. “That also means you two!” 

When Koichi gazed back at the old man, Knuckle Duster had opened and was searching his fridge.

“All you’ve got in this fridge is barley tea? Oh! There’s beer too! Gotta confiscate it. You’re underage.”

“Those are for when my senpai visited. And stop taking my stuff!”

“Can I have the tea?” The brunette kid asked.

“Here.” Knuckle Duster threw two tea cans at the kids.

“Ugh!” Koichi slammed his head at the table. He gave up. The only peaceful solution now was to listen to this crazy old guy and wait for all these people to leave on their own terms.

*Tug* Knuckle Duster opened a can of beer and took a slip.

“So there is a new drug appearing in the city. They call it Trigger.” The Double Black took a mental note of that name.

“It’s a Quirk Booster that also weakens the user’s ability to reason. Basically, this drug turned normal people into Villains.”

Dazai thought a bit, “So is the increasing crime rate…”

“The drug is why Villains are popping up outta nowhere all over the area.” Knuckle Duster nodded and started to chuck down the whole can of beer.

“Why not just report it and wait for the Pro Heroes or the police to catch these guys?” Koichi suggested.

“Ain’t gonna happen.” Knuckle Duster crushed the empty beer can with his hand. “These pop-up Villains on Trigger can emerge from any crowd, at any time. The cops and Heroes are always just stuck playing catch-up.” 

That part made sense. Dazai’s dad was a police officer. From what the boy had seen, Naruhata’s police force was always understaffed, and with some of the Heroes’ agencies leaving recently, they could never cover all the grounds. The important question was…

“But if the Trigger Villains are normal people without any criminal record. How do you know who to stop?” Dazai asked.

“That’s where me and Koichi come in.”

“Hey! Don’t just drag me into this?!”

“As I said. We’re gonna go out, stop suspicious-looking people, and check their tongues.”

“Tongues?” Koichi repeated the word with confusion.

“The side effect of Trigger. The regular users’ tongues change their color. Turn them dark, almost black.”

Chuuya thought that was useful information, but still, “… Are you just gonna go around and ask random people to stick out their tongues? That wouldn’t work.”

“No time for that! We’ll give those black-tongued losers a beatdown before they shoot themselves up with Trigger and make them spill the beans on their dealer. That’s how we put an end to this whole drug trade!” Knuckle Duster explained his plan in a very confident tone. 

Chuuya could appreciate that this old man wasn’t like those showy Pro Heroes, but they had to admit that maybe this Knuckle Duster guy wasn’t all that sane.

“So you just jump straight to punching strangers?” The redhead asked.

“... I can’t tell if you’re joking or not,” Koichi said.

Dazai took a gulp of tea, “Sounds like a Slug that I know- Uh!”

Chuuya elbowed him on the side. “Huh? What was that?! Say it to my face, Mackerel!”

“Exactly.” Dazai rubbed his bruised rib.

In the end, Knuckle Duster somehow convinced Koichi to help him with the investigation. Before leaving the building using a grappling hook, the old man told Koichi to meet at a public park the next afternoon.

“All right! See you tomorrow.” Dazai waved at Koichi and walked to the stairs with Chuuya.

“Wait! Hold on! What do you mean by ‘see you tomorrow’?” Koichi asked the brunette.

“Duh! We're gonna help you guys!” Dazai said as if that was obvious.

“This isn't a game. I know you have strong Quirks, but that doesn’t mean you should involve yourself with these dangerous things.”

Chuuya rolled their eyes, “We can take care of ourselves. Shouldn’t you be worried about yourself?”

“Well… I’m an adult who has all the right to decide for myself. You kids probably shouldn’t be out here this late in the first place.”

“Guilty~ But we promise not to do anything dangerous, and you ‘adults’ will be there to look out for us,” Dazai said with a smile.

Koichi didn’t know what to do, he wasn’t these kids’ parents, so he couldn’t stop them from going to a public place if he wanted to. The college student signed, “Fine… Are you sure you can walk home safely? I can go with you.”

Dazai gasped, “And let you know our addresses?”

“What? No! I-”

“Just kidding, we can go home by ourselves! Byeee!” The brunette grabbed his partner and went on their merry way.

On the empty street, two silhouettes walked side by side.

“After 6 years in this world, we finally met people who aren't boring. What do you think, Chuuya?” Dazai asked.

The redhead gazed at the dented cherry soda can in their hand. “The old man is fine. Good-shaped and highly trained in martial arts. He must have some reasons for doing this by himself without the authority. The college student - Koichi was… hum…” Chuuya tried to remember the details about the guy.

Average Quirk, no special skills, lived in an illegal apartment (that he was tricked into renting, so not so much of intelligence), and spent his free time helping people without being paid.

“A very normal, nice guy.” That was their final answer. Koichi was the kind of person that you could easily lose in the crowd. Like many people in this society, Koichi probably looked up to the Heroes but couldn’t become one himself, so he went around pretending to be one.

“I actually think he’s the most interesting one. A person who wants to help people not for reward but because he simply believes that is the right thing to do. I can never understand that thing about humans.” Dazai signed at the last sentence.

“... Why do you want to join the case? Can’t just because you’re bored?” Chuuya asked. They tried to ignore the last sentence because they didn’t really want to have a conversation with Dazai about the ‘Human or Not Human’. The last fight about that ended up with a month of silence until they both pretended nothing had happened.

“Mainly because of that. But let’s just say I have a feeling this isn't ordinary drug dealing.” 

“Hpm,” Chuuya didn’t comment on that, they knew better than to doubt Dazai’s instinct. The redhead opened their can of soda.

*Slush* The can exploded, and the soda shot up. Chuuya’s entire face was covered in sticky sugary water, the soda dripping down their red hair.

The ginger slowly turned their head at Dazai, who started to sweat and waved his hands to explain. 

“I maybe… ugh- shake it a little too much… when I used it to hit the gecko guy?!” Dazai was slowly backing away from his tiny partner and then took a run.

The rest of the cherry soda still ended up on the brunette's head, and both of the kids walked back in dirty, sticky clothes.

Chapter Text

Naruhata's police station was a plain old gray building. There was a policeman guarding, and Dazai waved at them when he walked through the front door. In a previous life, if someone had said that one day he would willingly go into a police station, Dazai would have laughed in their face and sent their severed fingers to one as a gift. However, here he was, walking to the front desk, and one of the policemen greeted him with a friendly smile.

“Good morning, kid! Come to see your father?” A middle-aged man holding a cigarette said to him.

“Good morning, Tanuma-san!” Dazai said.

After the divorce, Dazai lived with his mom full-time and visited his dad on the weekends and some holidays. Due to the short staff of this station, his dad had to work overtime many times on Saturday and sometimes even on Sunday. Therefore, Detective Tanuma Eizo, who was his dad’s boss, allowed Daisuke to have his son visit the station to spend more time with him. All the officers in this station were used to Dazai visiting every weekend after two years.

Dazai entered an office and saw Daisuke working at his desk.

“Hi, Dad!”

“Osamu! How was your first week of middle school?” Daisuke rubbed his son’s head after he had taken a seat near the desk.

“It’s fine. Chuuya is in the same class as me, though.” Dazai looked over the paper in his dad’s hands - some reports about damage caused by Villains and Heroes' fights.

“Isn’t it nice to have your friend with you?” 

“Why do I want to have a tiny Slug with me?” Dazai pouted. However, Daisuke knew his son would make a fuss if Chuuya hadn’t ended up in the same class as him. It had happened before. A teacher had insisted that Dazai had been too dependent on Chuuya and wanted to separate them. Until now, he still didn’t know how his son had managed to convince the teacher to switch the class.

“What about you, Dad? Caught any Villains?” The brunette spun a round with the chair.

“It would be better for the people if I didn’t need to, but there were a few attacks near the station shopping district.” The office suddenly realized something. “Isn’t that on your way to your new school? Did you kids come across any dangerous situations?” Daisuke worriedly asked Dazai.

“Nope!” It was true. There hadn’t been any threat that could really trouble the Double Black.

An hour passed with Daisuke continuing to fill out the reports and Dazai playing chess on his phone. Another police officer came to the desk and informed his dad about a patrol. 

Daisuke reached for his police jacket and told his son, “I’m heading out and will be back at lunch. Are you okay waiting here?” Dazai gave his dad a thumbs-up, still focusing on the chess match.

The office was nearly empty after the rest of the officers went on their patrol. There were some policemen at the front of the station, but they wouldn’t be able to see what happened in the office. Dazai glanced at the security camera and angled himself so that it looked like he was just playing some games on his phone.

Dazai turned on his dad’s computer and logged into the system record using Daisuke’s police ID. The brunette searched for any files about illegal drug users, Trigger, instant Villains, and any similar cases in recent months. There wasn’t enough time to read all the files before his dad came back, so Dazai prioritized sorting out useful files and sending those to one of his fake emails.

While searching for any cases involving drug overdoses, Dazai came across a few cases with unsolved deaths. The brunette’s fingers stopped on the keyboard. There were chances that these cases could end up being unrelated to the drug dealing, and he would waste time with it. However, Dazai eventually copied those and hit send. His phone’s screen lit up, showing a notification, and Dazai quickly covered his tracks.

For lunch, Daisuke took his son to a traditional ramen restaurant. While waiting for their orders, Daisuke had a brilliant idea to bond with his son.

“You know~ When I was your age, I was quite popular with the girls.” Daisuke flashed a charming smile to prove his point, but Dazai wasn’t impressed.

“... And you’re telling me ‘cause?”

“I’m just saying, if you need some romantic advice. You can come to me!”

“No, thank you,” Dazai said without looking up from his phone.

Daisuke laughed, thought that Dazai was embarrassed, and patted his back. “No need to be shy. From what I have seen, Chuuya has a bit of a temper, but trust me, these kinds of girls will melt if you treat them right.”

Dazai frowned, “What does Chuuya have anything to do with this?”

“Um... Aren’t you… Doesn’t matter, let me give you some tips on how to compliment a girl. They love that.”

The brunette boy signed and put down his phone to pay attention to his dad's ‘lesson’. This was a trainwreck waiting to happen, but Dazai was curious to see how this talk would crash and burn.

“Okay, don’t just tell a girl or anyone else that they are simply pretty. The men in the Dazai family are famous for their humor, so you need to show it.” Daisuke got into a serious position and prepared for his demonstration, “If you were a fruit, you would be a FINEAPPLE.”

“...” 

“Wait! I have a better one. And nooo~ I ain’t implying anything, but you can use this.” Daisuke coughed on his hand, *Ahem* “Are you French? Because Eiffel for you.”

“...”

“Get it ‘cause it sounds like ‘I fell’-.” “I understand,” Dazai interrupted his dad's explanation. His face was blank, but he was screaming inside.

“Great! Now you try, Osamu!” Daisuke encouraged his son. After a minute, Dazai took a deep breath and looked straight at his dad’s shining eyes.

“Are you a rope? Because I’d love to hang with you.”

“Urg… That’s-”

“If you were a toaster, I would take a bath with you.”

“Okay, stop!.. Those are… Let's rework on that later.” The waiter brought out two bowls of noodles, and the conversation was cut short.

Saturday 04:12 pm

Mackerel: I’m heading to you now ᕕ( ᐛ ) ᕗ

How is the tracking down of suspects?

Chuuya looked up from their phone to observe the scene in front of them. In fact, everyone around them was looking at it with serious concern.

“Show me your tongue or eat my fist!” Knuckle Duster yelled at a punk-looking guy.

“Are you for real?! You can’t just threaten people.” Koichi was holding back the old man to stop him from punching the guy. “Please! You just need to show us your tongue! Yes! Stick it out a little bit!!”

The redhead adjusted the cap on their head and sighed. If any of them wanted actual progress, they needed to come up with something to narrow down the potential suspects. Additionally, the old man’s violent tactics would get them arrested before they could get any work done.

“OI!” Chuuya called out loud to grab Knuckle and Koichi’s attention. “Are you seriously going around and harassing citizens? You’re wasting your time.”

Koichi dropped the old man’s arm and turned to face the redhead, “You’re one of the kids from yesterday! Uh…”

“Call me Chuuya.”

The college student gazed back at Knuckle Duster to make sure that he hadn’t run up and attacked ‘suspicious’ people. “I didn’t think that you kids would actually come. Where is your friend?” Koichi pulled up his All Might hoodie.

Chuuya shrugged, “He will show up later. Have you found anything?”

Koichi shook his head, “All the people that this guy deemed suspicious were clean. But it was hard to make people to cooperate with us.”

The ginger took a look at the duo. A tall, well-built man wearing a mask and carrying two metal knuckles. A young guy wearing an All Might hoodie. These get-ups weren't exactly passed as trusted figures.

“If you continue with this, someone is gonna call the cops,” Chuuya said.

“I know that. How can we check other people’s tongues, though?”

“You! With the red jacket!” The old man chased after another suspicious-looking individual.

“Hey! Wait!” Koichi hurriedly followed Knuckle Duster.

Chuuya looked around the busy street that they were on. The chance that a drug deal happened in a crowded public place like this was low. Not to mention, any logical dealer would know how to present themselves in the least suspicious way, so it would be harder to pick them from the crowd. The old man was checking people who dressed like gangsters to see if they were potential Trigger users. In theory, that could work. In reality, they didn’t have any authority to question anyone, and the dealers could see their loud tactic and avoid this area in the future.

For now, Chuuya needed to keep an eye on these guys. Crimson light surrounded the redhead. Chuuya jumped on the nearby wall and chased after the duo.

When Dazai arrived, Chuuya was sitting on a bench with Koichi and Knuckle Duster. Surprisingly, standing next to them was the pink-haired girl from the day before, Pop Step.

“... Hm. So you’re looking for junkies and dealers?” The pink-haired asked the group. “Ah! You are the little girl from yesterday, right? Thank you for saving me! But… should you be going around doing all of this? Actually, why are both of you going along with this gramp over here?” Pop Step asked Koichi and Chuuya.

“... Nothing. It’s just that if I don’t keep watch, he will beat up every last person walking the streets.” Koichi pointed at Knuckle Duster.

“Nah. I start with the most suspicious ones. Like the youngsters who can’t stop messing around.” The old man defended his actions.

“I-” Chuuya was about to answer Pop Step, but familiar arms suddenly wrapped around their shoulders.

“We just love to go around and help the community! Don’t we, Chu-chu?” Dazai hugged the redhead and answered with a smile. The rest of the group was startled by his sudden presence, except for Knuckle Duster, who lit up a cigarette and searched around for potential ‘suspects’. 

Pop Step continued, “... Whatever, but going at it so randomly is never gonna work.”

“We did get information from one guy.” Chuuya said, “He said that someone gave his friend a drug without asking for any payment.”

“Eh? You guys actually got something? How?” The pink-haired asked. Chuuya didn’t explain further.

Koichi gave her a weak smile, “... Kind of. Chuuya here threatened the guy to spill the beans.”

“I was simply asking a question,” The redhead said. Dazai hid his chuckles into the red hair.

“You were holding him 7 meters above the ground with your Quirk.” Koichi pointed out.

“I wasn’t gonna drop him for real.”

“HEY! You! Stick out your tongue!” It looked like Knuckle Duster found another victim. This time, it was a suit-wearing man with a briefcase. 

“Not again!” Koichi signed and chased after the old man.

While trying to protect the seem-to-be salaryman from the harassment of Knuckle Duster, Koichi accidentally knocked the guy’s briefcase. The briefcase popped open, and three hero figures dropped on the ground. One of the figures, which was shaped as the Flame Hero: Endeavor, rolled to where Dazai was standing. The brunette picked it up and examined the toy.

Meanwhile, Knuckle Duster continued to accuse the salaryman. “Look. What kind of adult carries around dolls? Too suspicious!”

Pop Step spoke up to defend the poor guy, “Plenty of people have weird hobbies. Ever been on the internet?!”

Koichi tried his best to calm down the situation, “The guy just said he works for a toy company. Maybe we should let him go.”

Chuuya was standing on the side, with two hands in their pockets, and didn’t seem to have any intention to step in. As Knuckle Duster raised his fist to interrogate the salaryman, a long cloth flew to him and tied up his wrist. This action was out of nowhere, even the redhead hadn’t sensed the presence of a newcomer until this moment. Chuuya gazed at the person who had Knuckle’s wrist tied up. A tired-looking man with long black hair wore a black tracksuit and had rounds of grey cloth around his neck. 

“Violent acts in full view of the public… Hardly considered a model citizen. You must be one of those instant Villains of late.” The man said. Despite his frame being smaller than Knuckle Duster's, the guy was holding strong since the old man hadn’t managed to pull out of his grip.

“You are… The Erasure Hero… Eraser Head?” Knuckle Duster shouted. 

Chuuya didn’t really catch up with the Heroes news, so it wasn’t a surprise if they couldn’t recognize every spandex wearer. However, judging by the confused looks on Koichi and Pop Step, they also didn’t recognize this Eraser Head. Before any of them could explain their situation to the Pro Hero. Being the madman he was, Knuckle Duster threw a punch at the Hero and started a fight for no reason. Fortunately, Eraser Head dodged easily and delivered a kick at the old man’s head. 

While the rest of the group was focusing on the fight. Dazai hasn't taken his eyes off the Endeavor figure. The brunette held the toy up and observed it with high interest. The figure was made with cheap quality and didn’t have any logo on it. There was a noticeable gap between its head and body. Even as a prototype, this toy still didn’t look right to him.

“E-excuse me… Can I have that back?” The salaryman slowly walked to Dazai and asked for the figure back.

Dazai glanced at the man before ripping the toy’s head open without any hesitation.

“Don’t!” The man yelled. This made Chuuya, Koichi, and Pop Step stop watching the fight and turn to them. 

Therefore, all of them witnessed the entire next scene. Dazai pulled out a syringe that was hidden inside the toy and asked out loud, “Care to explain why this is in your ‘toy’?”

At this point, the suit-wearing man panicked and tried to take back his stuff by force. Dazai simply took a step back and let his partner take the stage. Chuuya dashed to them and dropped an axe kick. The ginger missed the kick on purpose but the impact of a heavy gravity attack broke the concrete ground between Dazai and the man like a cracker. That was enough for the man to change his mind about taking back the syringe and escaping into the busy street.

Pop Step was the first one, besides the Double Black, to understand the situation. “That guy is hiding drugs in the toys! Koichi! After him!”

“Eh! Me?! Right!” Koichi hurriedly chased after the man with Pop Step, leaping right behind him.

*Tch* Chuuya clicked their tongue, “Osamu, go get the old man! I will go after them.” The redhead didn’t wait for Dazai to answer and immediately ran after the group.  

Being left behind with a suspicious drug injection, Dazai signed and walked back to where Knuckle Duster was fighting with a homeless-looking guy.

“Haa.. What’s wrong? Done already?” Knuckle Duster carelessly wiped out the blood on his chin. Although Knuckle Duster was out of breath, a cocky smirk stayed on his face.

The Pro Hero: Eraser Head, whose real name was Aizawa Shota, was standing face-to-face with the man. The Hero’s eyes were red, and his long hair was slightly floating, but the man in front of him didn’t seem to be affected by his Erasure Quirk. So that could only mean…

Aizawa dropped his defending stance and said, “My apologies. There's been a misunderstanding. Since there’s been no improper Quirk use here, I have no reason to detain you. I have mistaken you for a Villain.”

“Yeah. You’re excused.” Knuckle also dropped his attack form.

Aizawa walked away but made sure to keep the man in his sight. Being a Hero, his job was to step in if there were people using their Quirks for criminal activities. Therefore, Aizawa had no right to capture people who weren't using their Quirks. And this tough old man was Quirkless.

However, Quirk or not, the man was a suspicious individual and needed to be kept an eye on. Aizawa opened his phone and was about to contact the police when a brunette child walked past him. The kid was holding a long tube of liquid and a broken Endeavor toy.

“Are you done fighting the hobo, old man? We have a drug dealer on the loose.” The boy said. There wasn’t a hint of worry in his voice.

“What-?! Hold on!” Aizawa grabbed the kid. The brunette looked at the hand on his shoulder with a blank face.

“Finally! Where did the fucker run off, kid?” Knuckle Duster shouted with excitement and bolted in the direction that Dazai pointed to.

The Hero was confused with the situation but quickly collected his thoughts and questioned the boy, “Kid, do you know that man? And what drug?”

Dazai tilted his head and looked at Aizawa with big innocent dove eyes, “I have no idea what you are talking about.” The kid lied straight to his face while holding a suspicious syringe in his hand.

Had Aizawa ever said that he hated kids?

Before the Hero could get more information, a shout from the crowded street caught his attention. Dazai used the Hero’s distraction to escape and ran off to where the shout came from.

Again, Aizawa wanted to emphasize that he hated kids. Especially problem kids. Eraser Head chased after the brunette and deep into the chaotic street.

Chapter Text

Chuuya gazed at the group that was blocking their path. While three of them were chasing after the drug dealer, the thugs from the day before showed up and declared their hunger for revenge.

There was something different about them, though. The lizard mutant had wings and had grown double his size. The bald, muscled guy was way bigger than yesterday. Unless they had Quirk awakenings overnight, then they probably had their hands on some Triggers to boost their Quirks. Their next action confirmed the doubt.

“Let's finish what we have started.” Spiky-haired took out a familiar syringe and injected a liquid into his arm. The effect happened immediately, Spiky-haired started to grow pointed, long spikes all over his body. His eyes widened with bloody veins, saliva dripping down his mouth, and his tongue turning to a near-black color. Chuuya thought that the guy looked like a rabid hedgehog if that even made sense.

“Oh crap!” Koichi yelped. The college student put his hands on the ground and was about to use his Quirk to slide away.

“Let's get out of here- Hey! Why are you running to them?!” Koichi was shocked because Chuuya had decided to fight with three clearly dangerous drug users.

The redhead didn’t have time to care about his concern, “Follow the dealer! I will handle these flies.” Chuuya avoided a spiky fist and dashed toward a garbage bin on the sidewalk.

“Get out of the way!” Chuuya yelled at the bystanders, who finally understood that this was a Villain attack and ran away screaming.

The bin lit up with red, and Chuuya directed it toward Spiky-haired. The guy was running after Koichi when a garbage bin knocked him out.

“You brat!” The bald guy ran up to Chuuya. The redhead was ready to deliver a kick, but then Knuckle Duster ran up from behind the bald guy and smashed a brick on his head.

“Hah ha... I’M HERE.” Knuckle yelled. The bald guy was lying motionless on the ground. That brick probably gave him a concussion and potential brain damage.

“Fucking kid! I wouldn’t let you make a fool out of me again!” Spiky-haired cried and stood up for another attack. However, his spikes started to shrink rapidly, and his entire body started shaking. A long gray cloth flew to him and tied up the guy in a cocoon.

“W-what’s this jerk doing to me? My spikes!! I can’t move!” Spiky-haired struggled to get out of the cloth that was wrapping him. The Pro Hero who had fought with Knuckle stepped on the thug to stop his movement.

“Just doing my job as a Hero. Though I’m off duty today.” Eraser Head said.

The Hero’s eyes were red, and he was looking directly at Spiky-haired. Chuuya wondered if the Hero’s Quirk had anything to do with the disappearance of the guy’s spikes.

“Kid, where’s the other?!” Knuckle asked Chuuya.

“I told them to chase after that salary man!” The redhead pointed at a silhouette of a girl jumping on the lamp poles. They couldn’t see Koichi because his Quirk made him hard to spot in the crowd. What was alarming was that the lizard mutant was flying after the girl. 

“Shit! The lizard has run off after them!” Chuuya swore. However, a long cloth wrapped around them tightly before they could go with Knuckle Duster.

“Sorry, kid. No Quirk using in public. You will stay here until we contact your parents.” Aizawa said to the redhead kid. The Hero also had a lot of questions about this entire situation. He had lost track of the brunette boy, so this kid was the only source of information that he had at the moment.

The grey fabric was stronger than Chuuya expected, so they tried to manipulate the cloth's gravity for it to drop on its own. The crimson color lit up but then immediately shut down. A familiar feeling washed over the redhead.

“Great! Another mackerel.” Chuuya complained under their breath.

“Hey! Don’t compare me with the hobo!” A childish voice came from behind the Pro Hero. A hand was on Aizawa’s back, and the Hero felt heat disappear from his eyes. Before Aizawa could realize his Quirk was gone, Chuuya had escaped from his weapon.

Aizawa turned around and saw the brunette kid placing his hand on his back. The kid’s hand had a bright blue light up around it.

“Sorry~ But only I can do that to my dog.” The Hero changed his target and tried to catch the brunette boy. Dazai had expected this, so he jumped back to avoid Aizawa’s hand. Then, immediately, an empty bottle covered in red light flew to them at an incredible speed. The Hero had to retreat his hand to avoid being hit, which made the boy slip away easily.

*Thump* The bottle hit the wall hard. And Dazai smiled at the Hero before disappearing into the crowd.

Aizawa looked around to search for the ginger child, but they were gone too.

A Villain was tied up, but the other one was still unconscious. Therefore, Aizawa couldn’t afford to chase after the kids until the police arrived.

“Ugh…” The Villain under his foot whined in pain, and Aizawa had a strong urge to do the same.

People were pointing and recording the lizard mutant on their phones, some yelled ‘Villains’ and ran off. Nobody tried to help Pop Step, who was being chased by the mutant. The pink-haired girl was chasing after the drug dealer and, at some point, lost Koichi to the crowd.

“Stop! Wait up!” Pop Step cried before slamming into the drug dealer. Right behind her, the sharp claws of the lizard mutant almost cut through her shoulder.

The man fell down and dropped his briefcase.

“Ahh… My dolls… No, not again.” The man moaned. He was breathing heavily, his body was shaking, and when he opened his mouth, his tongue was completely black. The man grabbed the fallen All Might toy, popped its head, and stabbed the syringe into his neck. 

The Trigger’s effect quickly took over, and the man started to grow into a giant. Pop Step was still sitting on the ground after slamming into the man, so she tried to retreat from him. Unfortunately, the man, who had turned into a four-armed giant, grabbed her and held her like a doll. The giant also grabbed the lizard mutant and a car on the road.

“Pew Pew Pew. Woosh. Kroom kroom.” The giant moved them around in circles and started making unintelligent sounds. It seemed as if the drugs had somehow dumbed the man down to the brain level of a toddler. The man was playing with real people as if they were toys.

“GRAHHH!” The lizard guy screamed. His mouth started foaming, and he fainted after a few rounds in the air.

“AHH!” Pop Step yelled. She tried to break free, but the giant’s grip was too tight.

A figure was moving in her direction at high speed. It was Knuckle Duster. The old man was using a grappling hook and swinging his whole body at the giant’s head. Like a wrecking ball, Knuckle hit the giant’s face with his boots, and the impact made the giant lose his grip on Pop Step.

Didn’t appreciate being kicked in the face, the giant swapped Knuckle Duster away like a bug. Luckily, the old man managed to land on a store’s outdoor canvas.

“Master!” Koichi finally caught up with them and saw this scene.

“KYAHHH!” The college student looked up and saw Pop Step slowly slip through the giant’s grip and was about to fall from over 20 meters high. The girl’s Quirk was a type of jumping Quirk, so she needed a foothold to bounce off. If she ended up free-falling, she would fall straight to the ground.

“POP!” Without much thought, Koichi used his Quirk to scale up a building.

*Whoosh* The sound of his cheap groves rubbing against the surface and the burning feeling under his palms couldn’t stop him from moving toward the pink-haired girl.

Pop Step was falling midway when Koichi jumped and used his hands for her to step on. “LEAP!” He yelled at the girl. Her feet made contact with his hands, and she managed to activate her Quirk to push herself onto a rooftop.

Koichi did it. He saved Pop Step.

-

And now he was the one falling.

“AHHHHHHH!” He screamed. Before Koichi could find a surface to direct himself from the falling, he found himself surrounded by a crimson aura. The next thing he knew, he was slowly floating through the air.

“Great catch. But you need to learn how to land.” Chuuya had grabbed the back of his All Might hoodie and both of them were falling to the ground in slow motion. Koichi remembered the guy who had been held up in the air by the ginger kid early that afternoon. He wondered what Chuuya’s Quirk was.

“Koichi! Watch out!” Pop Step yelled at them. 

The giant had spotted them and was about to swing a fist. Koichi raised his arms to cover his face. He didn’t know if that would do anything, but before he could find out, the giant was covered entirely in bright blue light. 

When this bright light was gone, the giant had turned back into a normal-sized man. Standing next to him was Dazai. The Villain was still under the drug’s influence and was extremely confused as to why his Quirk had disappeared. As the police siren could be heard from a close distance, Dazai removed his hand from the guy and walked into an alley.

“Are you alive, old man?” Dazai asked Knuckle Duster. The man was bleeding from his mouth and managed to look even rougher than before.

“Heh heh. This is nothing, kid.” The old man said with a big, toothy grin on his face. If All Might’s smile was printed on inspiration posters, Knuckle Duster’s smile was something from a wanted poster.

Dazai didn’t ask more about his wounds. It would be bad if the man died before spilling all the secret information about the case, but Dazai would manage. Currently, the priority was the Trigger on his hand.

Dazai held up the drug syringe, “We need to figure out what to do with this.”

“I would take that,” A voice chimed in to their conversation. Dazai turned to the entrance of the alley and saw the Pro Hero from earlier. “ Well… I suppose that I should thank both of you for your help.”

Knuckle Duster took the syringe from Dazai’s hand and threw it to Eraser Head, “To use your words, I’m just a good samaritan. It’s my duty to help out Heroes on the job.”

The Hero wasn’t pleased with his excuse, “It's a little dangerous to call your make-believe heroism good. Especially if you involve kids in this.” Aizawa gazed at Dazai.

The boy shrugged, “In his defense, I just accidentally walked by and leaned a hand.”

“Kid, I will let you off this time, but the next time you go out and play Hero. There will be consequences.” Aizawa gave the kid one last warning. Usually, he would at least try to contact his parents, but he got a feeling this boy would simply find a way to get out of that situation again.

“No need to worry. I don’t have a lick of interest in being a hero.” That was Dazai’s answer.

Aizawa sighed and turned back to Knuckle Duster, “Don’t go around and assault people again. Even if I can’t legally arrest you, the police will.“

The old man continued to smirk like a challenge, “If that’s the case… they could arrest me after I beat the crap out of those punks.”

“Hey, preemptive assault like that is a crime.” The Hero said. However, Knuckle Duster had already turned his back and started walking away with Dazai following him.

“Try keeping up, Pro Heroes. If you don’t, we will pick up the slack.” The old man waved his hand.

Pop Step leaped down the building and hopped to where Koichi and Chuuya had landed. 

“Koichi? And uh… Chuuya, right? Are you okay? Did you guys get hurt when you fell?” She asked them.

“Nah. Just exhausted,” Koichi answered and then turned to the redhead. “Thanks for saving me again. It was kinda embarrassing to be saved by a kid twice, but you were pretty cool back then.”

Chuuya shrugged, “It was nothing. If you didn’t get to Pop Step first, I didn’t know I could make it on time.”

“Yeah, but… That sure is dangerous. What was I thinking? I mean, playing the Hero in a big brawl like that… It’s just not me.” Koichi scratched his nose. “And then, when I fell… Ha ha. I really thought I was gonna die.” Koichi continued to laugh at his stupidity.

Pop Step was not having it, “Um. You’re so… annoying! So what? The humility? The self-pitted? All that stuff is just… Ugh, pointless. Cut it out.” The pink-haired girl was having a hard time expressing her words, “Anyway. I was gonna thank you, but… Nah. You’re just too annoying.”

“You have such a weird way to show your gratitude.” Chuuya pointed out.

“Whatever!” Pop Step turned around to hide her red face.

“Oh! Everyone is here!” Dazai and Knuckle Duster were walking toward them. “The old man and I managed to ditch the Hero, but the police will soon swap this place. So, unless you want to be arrested for illegal Quirk using, I suggest that we all should flee.”

The old man finally stopped and looked at the middle-schoolers, “You know. You kids are kinda strange. Normal brats don’t go around busting drug rings… I think?”

“You just realized it now?!” Koichi said.

“Hum.. I know better than to stop stubborn teenagers. You youngsters would do crazy shit anyway. It’s better to let you in and keep an eye on you.” The old man groaned.

Knuckle then turned to Koichi and gave him a big, proud smile, “Koichi. Good job on flying up and catching the girl, but there are still a ton of things that you have to learn from now.”

“Like I keep saying, I’m not gonna be your apprentice,” Koichi said. The conversation about Koichi’s Hero training continued, but the Double Black decided they had enough useful information for the day and headed back home.

The Instant Villains had been arrested by the police force. From a distance, they could see Eraser Head directing the cops and occasionally looking around, searching for something. Chuuya and Dazai walked through the curious crowd without anyone even giving them a glance. The broken Endeavor doll was thrown into a non-burnable garbage bin on their way back.

TOKYO NEWS FRONTLINE

THE BEGINNING OF VIGILANTISM

April, 24XX

By Higashi Masa

At the Dawn of Quirk, the world fell into a state of chaos and struggled to accept these newfound powers. In order to stabilize the society, some individuals stood up and used their Quirk to maintain law and justice. These early decades were the golden ages of ‘Vigilantism’.

It all began in the USA, where the Pro Hero system was created. Many Vigilantes’ efforts were recognized, and some of them later became the first Pro Heroes with official licenses. The goal of this new licensing system was to divide those using their Quirks into Heroes and Villains and, through that, regulate Quirks on a societal level. However, this system, in a way, criticized the ideology of Vigilantism and later on, labeled Vigilantes as ‘Illegal Quirk users’ or even ‘Villains’.

To this day, there are still debates about the true definition of Vigilantes.

Heroes? Allies of Justice? Criminals? Villains? Or simply insane people?

What do you think?

Chapter Text

Papers were scattered everywhere in the bedroom. Dazai was standing in front of a string board, comparing the notes he had taken about the Trigger case. 

From what he had gathered, the major cases of these so-called Instant Villains happened in a limited area. From the North Naruhata station shopping district to the old quarter in the East Naruhata. This could imply that the sellers wanted to open their business here, or they wanted to have the users in an area that they could control. The moment Trigger hit the market, the demand for Quirk-enhanced drugs would soon skyrocket, and the dealers would swim in cash.

Dazai frowned. Something didn’t make sense. The captured Trigger users’ testimonies all said the same thing: they got the drugs from a stranger for free. Someone was handing out these expensive drugs in large amounts without any payment. Even if it was to get people hooked on the products or a marketing strategy, the cost was too high. He would know, he had been in charge of the biggest drug-dealing ring in Japan in his past life.

So the question was: What was the Trigger distributor’s actual goal?

“Why do you live like this?” Chuuya signed when they entered Dazai’s room. The redhead stepped over the mess and over the brunette boy who was now lying on the floor.

*Shush* Dazai signaled them to be quiet.

“I’m thinking. Something you need to do more often.” Dazai closed his eyes and rolled on the floor like a rolling pin.

“Zip it before I throw you out of the window.” Chuuya threw their jacket on the bed and grabbed a stack of papers from the desk.

“‘Undetermined Death’? Are these related to the drug case?” The redhead read out loud while waving the document.

“Those? Probably not. I checked.” Dazai went back to being a rolling pin.

Chuuya continued to read the papers. The first case was the death of a middle-aged couple. They had been found dead in their apartment, and their bodies had been rotting for over a week. There were small needle marks on their necks, their throats and tongues were swollen, and there were signs of allergy reactions. This could be simply an accident or an overdose case, but some neighbors said that they had seen the couple’s daughter coming home during the time of the confirmed death. 

Flipping to the next page, there were the deaths of some gang members. Seven members of the Abegawa Tenchu gang were found murdered at their headquarters. The suspect had entered the building through the window and killed all of them with a long sharp weapon. They all died from a single stroke, but the cut was immaculate. As if the victims weren’t able to struggle or fight back. Likely a gang conflict.

Chuuya put down the papers and went on to check the string board. There was a map of Naruhata district, a few pictures of the Instant Villains, and a picture of Knuckle Duster next to a question mark.

“They are experiments,” Dazai spoke up suddenly.

“What?” The redhead looked at him.

“The Trigger users. Whoever gives out the drugs doesn't want to sell them. They are using these Instant Villains as test subjects.” Dazai took out a red pen and circled the picture of the thugs from the other day. “And right now, they are focusing on an area for easier observation and collecting data.” The brunette pointed at the map of Naruhata.

Chuuya was lost in thought for a minute. The redhead despised human experiments, but these people had chosen to take the drugs of their own will. The one giving out the drugs was someone who understood the desire to become stronger and the power-worshipping dynamic of this society.

“So when an Instant Villain appeared, the one giving out the drugs would likely stick around to observe the results.” Chuuya shared their opinion, and Dazai nodded at them.

The ginger then continued, “Could this be the work of a powerful organization? The Trigger’s research and production can’t be cheap.”

“Definitely! A group or someone with enough finances and resources.” Dazai drew a money symbol on the board.

“Osamu! Time for dinner. Also, tell Chuuya to join in with us.” Dazai’s mom called them from the living room. Dazai dropped his pen and carelessly stepped on the papers. “Let’s meet up with the others tomorrow. I think it’s time for a check-up with our beloved Vigilantes.”

It had been nearly a week since they had rescued Pop Step and Koichi from the thugs. Apparently, Koichi had accepted being Knuckle Duster’s apprentice since they had been seen working together to stop the Instant Villains and keep the peace in the area. Pop Step also worked with them as a standby reporter who helped evacuate the civilians every time there was an attack.

Dazai and Chuuya hadn’t made many appearances working with this newfound Vigilantes group. Most of the time, they stood by and observed the trio. Chuuya would have stepped in if a Villain was too much, but until now, the old man had been handling the tough ones just fine.

When they arrived at Koichi's rooftop apartment, there was already someone inside it. Dazai opened the door and was currently having an eye-staring contest with a middle-aged man.

“Oh. It’s you brats.” The man continued eating his bento and drinking from a can of beer. Dazai recognized that voice, the Vigilante looked different without the suspicious half-head mask.

“Sup, old man.” Chuuya greeted Knuckle Duster before removing their shoes and entering the apartment. The three of them continued to wait for Koichi while watching the TV. Dazai even brought some snacks and his game console to pass the time.

That was what Koichi saw when he got home from his afternoon class. A strange man that he didn’t recognize was chilling in his house with those two weird kids that he hadn’t seen in a week.

“... Kids? Who is this? Should I call the cops?” The college student held up his phone shakingly.

“Relax. It’s me.” Knuckle Duster put on his mask.

“Ah, Master! Wait a minute… I remember locking the front door. How did you guys get in?” Koichi asked them.

“I picked the lock,” Dazai said calmly.

“And I came in through the window.” The old man pointed his thumb at the broken window. There was a clear sign that someone had punched through the glass to reach the inside lock.

“... You know that breaking and entering is a crime, right?” Nobody answered Koichi’s question. The college student sighed and searched for something to cover the broken window.

*Ding Dong* The front door’s bell rang. Koichi looked confused, he didn’t expect anyone else to come today.

He opened the door to a pink-haired girl in a high school uniform. “Um… Do I know you?” He asked the girl. The high schooler didn’t answer him but instead pushed Koichi aside to enter the apartment.

“Hey! Wait up,” Koichi said.

The girl pulled out a makeup box from her school bag. After a quick makeover, the pink-haired girl put on her domino mask.

“It’s me. Duh.” The high schooler turned out to be Pop Step. 

“Pop! Didn’t expect you to look, uh…” Koichi tried to find the right word.

“Say I look ‘plain,’ and I’ll kill you.”

“Um… I’m just surprised that you’re here now. We don’t have a patrol until later tonight.”

It was understandable why Koichi didn’t recognize her. Pop Step had a totally different vibe when she was in her Vigilante outfit. While in school uniform, she wore nerdy round glasses and a messy down hairstyle. On the other hand,  the illegal Idol - Pop Step had a very bold, sexy costume and a heavy makeup look.

Chuuya had a lot of things to say about Pop’s costume, but there had been something they had been wondering about. “Hey, Pop. Are you sure a mask was enough to hide your identity? Your bright pink hair is a huge giveaway.”

Before Pop Step could answer, Dazai spoke up first. “Come on~ Chu-chu. It isn’t as if she is extremely famous or anything. Poppy here is a local celebrity at best.”

“What did you say, you ignorant brat?! I’m a real IDOL. With a real fan club and fan page!” Pop Step pointed her makeup brush at the brunette kid.

“How many followers do you have? 30?” Dazai continued his act of being an insufferable kid.

“YOU PUNK!” Pop Step slammed her hands on the table. Her face was red, and she was about to give Dazai a lesson about respecting your elders if Koichi hadn’t held her back.

Chuuya rolled their eyes and slapped Dazai’s shoulder, “Knock it out, asshole! We came here for a reason. Stop wasting time raging people up for your humor.”

Dazai raised both his hands up, “Alright, alright~ I’ll stop for you. Now! Let's show you the reason why we came here.” The brunette reached into his backpack and pulled out a stack of papers and a folded map. “Ta-dah!”

“Hold on. Is it gonna be long? My part-time job is about to start.” Koichi said, pointing his finger at the thick files.

“And I have a live performance soon.” Pop Step said, still gazing at the brunette kid.

“I’ve finished my day job a little early today. So I’m free until nightfall.” Knuckle drank the rest of his beer in one go and lay down on his side to watch the TV.

“Hum… I see that none of you appreciate my hard work,” Dazai pouted. “Well. It would take quite some time to explain everything. And I don’t want to explain again, so I guess we have to wait until you guys get back.” He signed and gathered the papers. The rest of the group continued to move on with their stuff.

Koichi was the first one to leave after giving them a spare key to lock up the apartment.

Chuuya held up the key and waved it around, “Do any of you want to keep the key? Me and the Mackerel can pick the lock, so we don’t need this to enter.”

“Don’t need it.” The old man said. Chuuya glanced at the window. The broken glass had been cleared up, but the hole in the window was just covered with duct tape.

“Then I'm gonna leave it on the table for Pop.” The redhead put the key down. “So you guys go out for patrols, huh? Sounds like the real deal. How did it go?” Chuuya started a conversation.

Pop Step was still changing into her costume, so Knuckle Duster was the one who answered them. “We go around and punch the shit out of those Villains.”

“... That’s it?”

“Shouldn’t you two already know? You were following us.” The old man said.

Chuuya blinked and looked at Dazai. The brunette had a frown on his face. So Dazai hadn’t noticed that Knuckle Duster was aware of their stalking either. It could be that the Double Black was rusty with their stealthy skill, or the old man was more than he let on to be.

“Could you blame us? We are curious kids, and you guys seem like people who attract a lot of trouble.” Dazai said. There wasn’t a point in hiding their intention if the old man already knew and still decided to keep them around.

“I’m done.” Pop Step had finished changing her outfit. “Are you kids gonna be here and waiting for Koichi and me?” She asked them.

“We don’t really have anything to do. And it’s better to finish this whole meeting today.” Chuuya said.

“Do you want to come and listen to my performance?” Pop asked the redhead, before giving a dead gaze to Dazai. “Maybe you would learn to appreciate a good show.”

“... Nah! I think I will stay with the old man.” Dazai said with a smile, which pissed Pop even more.

“You little-”

“I will go with you.” Chuuya cut off Pop’s swearing. “My Quirk is better to follow you anyway.”

“Really? Can I ask what it is?” Pop Step tilted her head.

“Gravity Manipulation.” The redhead said.

Pop Step waited for Chuuya to talk more about their Quirk like anyone of their age, but Chuuya didn’t give out any other information. 

“If you can keep up with me, then sure. Ah! Let me give you my spare mask. Do you want to have some makeup on? I have a lipstick color that would look great with your skin tone. And-” The pink-haired girl was searching around her bag and was getting more and more excited.

“Ugh…” Chuuya looked at her in confusion. They were gonna have their hood up, so what was the point of makeup? Also, Pop Step reminded Chuuya of their new mom, who loved to dress them up like a doll.

“Oh! What about a new hairstyle? Or-” Pop Step kept going without caring about Chuuya’s opinion anymore.

Chuuya had to admit that Pop Step knew how to hype up a crowd. The pink-haired was singing and bouncing all over the place. There were a few times Pop came down and gave her fans handshakes. The small crowd was cheering her up with pink fans and glow sticks. Many of them wore a pink jacket to show their support.

The redhead had been sitting on a nearby roof to watch the performance. They didn’t really have anything to do besides watching the crowd below for any over-excited fans. Overall, it was a fun and relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

“I wanna shake hands with Pop!!!” Great, Chuuya jinxed it.

From the crowd, a long eel-like creature jumped up to where Pop Step was standing. On his way of climbing through the crowd to Pop, the creature released a slimy liquid on everything and everyone.

“KYAAA!!” Pop Step screamed and jumped down from the pole to run away from the slimy creature.

Chuuya should go and help her, but… “Ew. This is gonna be gross.” The redhead threw a disgusting look at the yellowish-white slime leaking from the eel guy.

“How do you lift yourself with this?” Dazai was holding and examining Knuckle’s grappling hook. In order to pull up a 1,85-meter (6'1'') mature man like Knuckle Duster, the pulling gear needed to have enough force and speed. Back when Dazai had been in the mafia, the grappling hook wasn’t that much of a useful tool, so people must have improved the design in this future world.

“Don’t underestimate it, kid. This baby can hold up to 150 kg. But if you want to use it, you would need a lot of skills and practice.” Knuckle took back the hook from Dazai.

“... Can you get me one?” Dazai asked.

“Even better! I can teach you how to use it when we have time.” Knuckle rolled back the rope of the hook and put it back to his multi belt.

Both of them continued to walk through the narrow alley. Knuckle Duster had decided that he wanted to go on patrol early, so Dazai tagged along out of boredom. Currently, they were heading toward the shopping street area, near where Pop Step was performing.

“Pop!!” The familiar shout grabbed both of them's attention. Knuckle rushed to the scene and saw Koichi running after a tube-shaped eel man.

“Ahh! What do you even want from me?! You’re ruining my show!!” Once again, Pop was the damsel in distress. The pink-haired was leaping from one building to another to escape a crazy admirer. Right on their tails was a small figure wearing a hoodie and a cap. Chuuya was using Gravity Manipulation to run on the side of the block and was very close to the eel man. However, when the redhead finally caught up and delivered a kick to the man, the thick slime on his skin made them unable to touch the actual body. Therefore, Chuuya slipped and had to land emergency landing on the ground.

Chuuya was ready to launch themself up again, but an annoyed fish had to gasp too loudly.

“The Nakahara Chuuya missed an attack?! My my~ does the sun finally rise in the west?” Dazai skipped to the redhead with a teasing grin. Chuuya could feel their eyes twitching.

“I didn’t miss! The fucker is just too slimy!!” Chuuya grabbed the brunette’s collar and shook him. While the duo was busy bickering, Knuckle Duster and Koichi tried to stop the eel guy by having Koichi grab him and Knuckle knock him out. Unfortunately, similar to Chuuya’s case, the slime on his body made the eel guy a harder target to land a hit on. Both Vigilantes ended up tangling in a slimy mess on the ground.

“Hmph! Too slippery… I can’t get a firm grip.” Koichi said after the eel guy had escaped.

Dazai wiped up his head from Chuuya’s chockholer, “Then we have to fix that now, don’t we? Ouch! Let me out, Chuuya! Bad dog!” The redhead released Dazai too quickly, which caused the boy to stumble a few steps.

“Stop with the dog joke! It’s getting old!” Chuuya then pointed at the eel man still chasing after Pop Step. “So what did you come up with?”

Dazai dusted his jacket, “Let’s hope that the owners are nice and lend us something.” Dazai walked to a noodle restaurant nearby.

The plan was simple. Pop Step first lured the eel man into an empty alley, where the rest of them would hide and ambush. Chuuya then dropped a huge bag of flour, which would suck up all the moisture in the slime. After that, it would be easy for Koichi to capture the guy while Knuckle Duster beat the shit out of him.

“You forgot something, Mackerel!” Chuuya said as they pushed Dazai onto the flour-covered eel guy. A bright blue light appeared and quickly disappeared. On the ground, the eel man had turned back into a short, chubby-looking guy. His tongue was a dark color so he must have used Trigger to boost his Quirk.

“Eww! Did you just throw me?” Dazai stood up from the mess on the ground and complained about Chuuya’s violent tactics.

“I ain’t gonna let you stand around and do nothing,” Chuuya smirked at him. The brunette boy squished his eyes and raised his arms to give Chuuya a tight hug. Dazai used this action to rub the mixture of slime and flour on his partner’s clothes.

“Get off me, you freak!” Chuuya tried to push him off, but Dazai stuck to them like a barnacle.

Koichi finished tying up the Villain when he heard the police’s siren. “Ah, the cops! We’d better get going.”

“Hold on a minute… I need a shower after all.” Pop Step said tiredly. Her pink hair, face, and outfit were entirely covered in a disgusting slime mixture because she had been in the middle of the trap to lure the eel guy.

The sun had set for a while, but all the members of the Vigilantes group and the Double Black were still lingering at Koichi’s apartment.

“Right. Koichi. You’ve gotta start buying some decent shampoo. That cheap stuff ruins my hair. Get the one without silicone.” Pop Step said to Koichi while drying her head with a hairdryer.

“For curly hair, I recommend a sulfate-free kind,” Chuuya added. The redhead was wiping the dirt on their cap with a wet paper towel. Sitting next to them was Dazai in his T-shirt because his dirty jacket was in the washing machine with others’ outfits. The brunette was laying out the document on the coffee table.

“Just use bar soap for that mop of yours.” Knuckle Duster said as he kicked out the bathroom door. The old man was shirtless with a towel on his neck.

“Nobody asked for your opinion, gramp!” Pop Step retorted. “And mind not walking around half-naked! This is a community space! We have kids here.”

“Actually, this is my house,” Koichi said weakly, but at this point, everyone just ignored him.

The old man didn’t pay attention to their shout but walked straight to the fridge, “You’re out of beer, Koichi. What’s going on here?”

“I think you drank all of them, is what,” Koichi said.

“Yeah? Better restock, then.”

*Ahem* Dazai coughed loudly to grab others’ attention. “I believe that it’s time for our first Trigger conference. Have a seat and listen carefully because I won’t explain a second time.”

The Vigilantes sat around the coffee table. Knuckle had a grumpy look on his face as always. Koichi and Pop Step were curious, but they didn’t seem to think the kids would have something that serious to discuss. However, this attitude changed when Dazai showed them his investigation about the Trigger’s case.

Koichi held up a criminal file about the thugs from last week, “These documents have the official stamp mark of the Naruhata police force. How did you get these?!”

“Don’t worry about it.” Dazai waved his hand and smiled at the college student. Koichi felt a chill shock down his spine.

“Why do I even bother to ask? You kids are insane.” Koichi dropped the file.

Chuuya rolled their eyes, “Relax. We made sure that nobody would track you down. The most important thing is that we know that the distributor has someone to observe these Instant Villains.”

Pop Step took a picture of marked Naruhata's map and shared her opinion, “Even I agree with your deduction. Most of the attacks happen in crowded places, so how can we check everyone?”

Dazai sighed, “This will be a long-term investigation, that's for sure. If it's easy, the police have caught the dealers already.”

Chuuya nodded, “Let’s start with scheduling a patrol routine. We will also join in and help you guys from time to time.” The redhead took out a notebook and started discussing with Koichi and Pop Step about their timetable.

Surprisingly, Knuckle stayed quiet through the meeting. The old man was staring at a file of one of the Undetermined Death cases that was accidentally mixed in before standing up and walking out the front door.

“I’m going out for a smoke,” He said. The others were still focusing on the patrol, so they didn’t notice the old man’s strange attitude. But Dazai did.

The brunette raised his brow and followed the man. Knuckle Duster walked to the edge of the rooftop and lit up a smoke.

“I thought you would have a lot to say about the case,” Dazai said as he walked to the old man.

“... Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to let some brats on this.” Knuckle said and took a long smoke.

“We’re here now. And you won’t get rid of us easily.”

“I know.” The old man groaned.

“... So are you interested in sharing the information that you are still hiding from us?” Dazai asked the Vigilante. In all means, Knuckle Duster was a mystery. From his skills to his motivation for investigating the case as well as training Koichi, were unknown. The man definitely knew more about this case than he let on, but for some reason kept most of the details to himself.

“...”

When Knuckle didn’t answer his question and stayed quiet for a long time, Dazai decided not to push it.

“Okay, okay. No need to spill your guts to us. We all have our demons.” Then Dazai turned his back and walked back to the apartment.

The brunette took one last look at the old man before entering the front door. The moonlight reflected off the Vigilante’s back and, for some reason, made him feel smaller than he actually was. Dazai closed the door and headed back to his partner’s side.

Chapter Text

Dazai was walking through the school’s Club Introducing Fair. Chuuya had left him to check out the sports club booths, which he had no interest in. He could try to find a chess club, but why join something he could play on his phone at any time he wanted?

After walking for a while, there were fewer and fewer people. It seemed that the more popular clubs were placed in front of the school’s yard, and the less popular ones were far in the back. The brunette stopped at the last booth, where there was only a male student wearing glasses. The booth had been entirely ruined. On the table, there were insults such as: ‘Loser’, ‘Quirkless’, ‘KYS’, and so on written with black markers. The hand-made poster on the front was ripped off, and printed handouts were scattered on the ground.

The student was collecting the handouts on the ground by himself. The students in the other booths either ignored or looked at the guy in pity. No one came up to help him. Dazai tilted his head and walked to the booth. As the brunette started to collect the fallen handouts, the student was startled by his action and gazed at him with suspicion in his eyes.

Dazai didn’t care, though. He continued to collect the rest of the papers and hand them over to the student. The guy didn’t take them, so Dazai put the papers on the table and took one to read.

“Literature Club, huh? Sounds interesting. Are you in charge of this club?” The brunette asked the male student behind the booth.

“... No. The club president has gone to report to the teachers.” He said.

“Okay. Are you a member? Can you tell me about your club?” Dazai asked the guy with a casual smile.

The guy was searching for something on his face. Maybe he expected cruelness, pithiness, or any usual emotions that people directed to him. However, he failed to see it on the brunette’s face.

“... You’re new, aren’t you?” The guy asked.

“Yup! This is my first year.” Dazai answered.

The guy still looked defensive, but he eventually dropped his shoulders, “Sorry for the display. As you can see, our club isn't exactly welcome around here.” He gazed at the words written on the booth.

Dazai wasn’t sure that it would be wise to ask about what had happened. This was clearly some sort of bullying due to Quirk discrimination, and the guy didn’t seem friendly enough to share his story with a stranger.

“Still. I would like to hear about the club’s activities, though.” Dazai continued the conversation with a cheerful attitude.

“... This isn’t a serious club or anything,” The guy said after a long pause. He probably guessed that Dazai was trying to be nice, but likely wouldn’t go through all the trouble to join.

“We mostly do some writing and discussing books of all genres. Sometimes the president organizes games related to spelling and literature. The member is required to attend at least one session a week.” He said with a monotone voice.

“Great! Where do I sign up?” Dazai asked.

The student couldn’t believe it, “Wha-”. A feminine voice cut him off, “Okura! I reported those students to the teacher. I even borrowed something from the janitor to clean the table.”

A girl with two long braids walked toward them while carrying a bucket. Her steps stopped when she saw Dazai standing in front of the booth, and the girl quickly entered a defensive state. However, her eyes shone when she saw Dazai holding the handout, “Are you here to join the club?” The girl dashed to Dazai and held her hand up to greet him.

“I’m Hirano Kotone, third year, and the president of the Literature club.” Hirano excitedly shook Dazai’s hand before gesturing to the other member, “This is our vice president, Okura Sadao.”

Okura rolled his eyes, “It’s not like that title means anything. We only have two members left this year.”

The president pointed her index finger at him, “And we won’t get more with that attitude. Come on! Let’s fix this up, and the new members will soon line up with us.” Okura didn't seem to be surprised by her overly positive attitude and started to use the tools in the bucket to clean the booth.

Hirano turned back to Dazai, “So are you interested in joining us?”

Dazai quickly scanned over the ruined booth and noticed the way that other students looked at them, or more importantly, the way they looked at Okura. “Actually, I was asking Okura-senpai how to sign up.”

“Really? Good job, Okura! We already have a new member. Let me get a signup form for you.” Hirano ran to the back of the booth.

Okura turned to him with a sharp look on his face, “Do you seriously want to join the club?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t ask if I don’t.”

The older student hesitated to say more, but he managed to ask Dazai what he considered the most dealbreaker fact, “Even if it means you are going to be in the same club with a Quirkless person?”

The way that Okura said ‘Quirkless’ with a deep loathing meant that he was the target of this hate crime. Why this society even thought that someone with a cactus head was better than an average human was beyond him. Dazai had said a thousand times since he had come to this world, and he would say it again.

“What does your Quirk have to do with anything?”

Okura blinked at him in shock. Dazai ignored the guy’s still frame and grabbed a towel from the buckle to wipe the table. Both of them cleaned up the booth in silence while waiting for the club’s president to get back.

“Here it is! What’s your name and class, newbie?” Hirano came out holding up a paper and a pen.

“Dazai Osamu. Class 1-B.”

“Andddd done! Welcome to the Literature Club, kohai.”

For the rest of the Club Introducing Fair, Dazai hung around at the Literature Club’s booth with the club’s members. Since some members had graduated last year, there were only two members left: Okura - second year, and Hirano - third year. While Okura had a more shut-in personality due to his situation, Hirano was a ray of sunshine with her head in the clouds and heart filled with justice. The three of them chat about their favorite books to pass the time, and at some point, Hirano took out a couple of word puzzle sheets and made a small game for everyone.

Even though they didn’t have anyone else sign up at the end of the fair, both older students welcomed Dazai with a smile. Before Dazai got back to Chuuya’s side, he was added to a new group chat.

Chuuya was checking their phone. The Vigilantes didn’t have a patrol today, but Pop Step had texted them saying that she and Koichi would meet up with some of her fans to get information from the eel guy. Last time, the crazy fan was knocked unconscious by Knuckle Duster before they could ask him anything.

Wednesday 05:32 pm

Me: What about the old man?

Pop Step: Nope 

We don’t want him to strangle the guy or smth so we didn’t wait for him

Me: Fair enough

Chuuya told Dazai about the conversation, and the brunette agreed that Pop and Koichi would do fine without them for one day. Koichi and Pop Step weren’t fighters, but their skills fit perfectly for escaping, so Chuuya wasn’t worried too much. The duo decided they should get some snacks before heading to their favorite arcade.

They stopped at a crepe vendor on the shopping street. Chuuya ordered a creme brulee crepe while Dazai was busy being a pain in the back for everyone else.

“I swear that you do this every freaking time.” The redhead murmured.

“Now now. I just have a delicate taste. Anyway, can you put mayonnaise on the strawberry crepe?” The seller visually twitched at Dazai’s request. Chuuya didn’t know what was worse. Dazai’s savory and sweet combination, or the extra five spoons of Nutella on everything.

“You’re paying. I’m not gonna spend a cent on that abomination.” The redhead said.

Dazai took out his wallet, “If you’re broke, just say so. I don’t mind being your sugar da-Ack!” Chuuya hit Dazai’s side with their elbow to stop him from finishing the sentence.

The redhead felt heat rising on their face as the seller and the people behind them glanced at them. “Just pay for the stupid crepes and go,” Chuuya yelled at Dazai before storming off the line, leaving the brunette to wait for their crepes alone.

After a distance, Chuuya slowed down and stopped in the middle of a busy sidewalk. They still could see the crepe vendor from where they were standing, so the redhead focused on calming down from their anger. Chuuya took a deep breath and debated whether they should get back to Dazai or go to the arcane first.

“UWAAHHHH!!” Well, that would change their plan.

“AHH!” Another scream came from the end of the street.

“HELP ME!”

“V-v”

More shouting came from all over the area and from all directions. Chuuya couldn't point out the source of the threats due to the panicked crowd. People were pushing, and soon Chuuya found themselves stuck in the middle of the street with civilians running and slamming into each other like chickens that lost their heads.

“VILLAINS!” Chuuya turned their head at the shout. The redhead used their Quirk to stomp on the ground and stayed at their current place to observe the situation. 

In the center of the chaos, a man was having his flesh burned off his skin. On the other side of the street, there was a woman with a laser shooting out of her eyes as she yelled in pain. These ‘Villains' didn’t try to attack anyone, but instead shook and shouted as if they were the victims.

*Buzz* Before Chuuya could analyze further, they felt a sting on their neck. The redhead instinctively slapped at the thing that just did that.

“Ouch! What the heck?!” Chuuya heard a crunch and felt some kind of liquid on their palm after slamming it. Despite the strange metal texture, Chuuya thought that a bug had bitten them. The redhead raised their hand to see what it was, but they froze the moment their eyes landed on a familiar pattern.

“No.” They whispered.

Creeping up their raised hands were the crimson swirls of a forgotten God. The blood-colored pattern was rapidly carved on Chuuya as if someone was holding a butcher knife as a brush and using their skin as a canvas. The singular eye was staring back at them like an old lover, like the Reaper, like his final moment. 

Arahabaki roared.

Then everything turned black.

Dazai didn't pay attention at first since the shopping street was always loud, but it was weird that the crowd was getting more and more chaotic in such a short time. Dazai raised his head from his phone. The seller wrinkled his nose while handing him the crepes.

“Here's your order- Whoa!” The guy yelped. He and the crepes started floating into the midair. Everything around Dazai was lifted as if gravity suddenly decided to take a day off.

Dazai looked down at his body and saw the faint blue light of Nufinitation surrounding him. Therefore, whatever this was, it was the result of a Quirk. The brunette finally noticed that people were screaming and ran away from something from the other side of the street, where Chuuya had angrily stormed off.

Realizing something was wrong, Dazai turned his head toward the sound of the cement ground cracking. A wave of energy washed through the street. With each wave, people, cars, and every other object on the road were lifted and thrown around aimlessly.

At the center of the disruption was a slowly forming sphere of red. Dazai could feel his stomach drop, and before he even noticed, his body was moving on its own. The brunette pushed through the terrified civilians and ran straight to the crimson sphere. He ducked to avoid a car thrown in his direction and ignored the hands that tried to grab him from running toward the source of the disaster.

“Chuuya!” He yelled at the red ball of energy. There was desperation in his cry. 

‘I used Corruption in the final battle.’ Those words had been repeated in his nightmare, and now they pushed him forward. A flying piece of sharp metal cut through his cheek, but Dazai couldn’t even feel it.

Finally, the brunette reached the sphere. The blue light from his body became brighter and soon overshadowed the crimson energy as he grabbed the figure inside of it.

*BAM*

*CRASH* 

Those were the sounds of multiple heavy things dropped from midair. Chuuya had activated Corruption for less than a minute before Dazai reached them but the damage in such a closed street was massive. All the nearby windows were broken, cars were flipped, and people and objects were thrown and scattered. From every direction, screams were calling the police and Heroes.

The dust cloud from the broken concrete street and the fallen pieces of nearby buildings hid two middle schoolers from others’ view. However, Dazai knew there was little time until the authorities got here, and both of them couldn’t be seen in the center of this. He would kill everyone before he even entertained the idea of letting the government dogs touch Chuuya.

Biting his tongue to contain his rage, Dazai gathered his partner into his arms and climbed out of the shallow hole that Chuuya created. As the dust settled, Dazai managed to hide them in a narrow alley.

The sirens of police and ambulances were getting closer, so they still needed to leave before any spandex wearers searched the area.

“Ugh… Osamu?” The small frame in his arms whispered.

Chuuya was having a hard time waking up from their present condition. The redhead could feel the deep ache in their muscle, and the inner bleeding from Corruption after such a long time was almost unbearable. Instinctively, Chuuya curled more into their partner’s chest. Dazai also held them closer.

“Don’t worry, Chu-chu. I got you.” 

Chuuya didn’t respond to that. The redhead tried to concentrate and thought about what just happened.

“Was that…” Chuuya spoke up but was hesitant to confirm the sorrowful truth.

“Yes,” Dazai confirmed it for them. “It was Corruption.”

Chuuya unconsciously gripped Dazai’s jacket. Their face made a deep frown as their mind was slowly waking up from the pain.

“I didn’t activate it,” Chuuya said. “... but I remember being stung by something.” 

The redhead opened their closed fist and showed Dazai the mess on their palm. There were crushed pieces of a dead insect with wings. However, at the end of its tail, there was an unknown liquid and glass shards that cut into Chuuya’s skin. Dazai wanted to investigate more about the insect, but the alley was dark, and they really needed to get out of here.

The brunette carefully dropped Chuuya to the ground and took out a new roll of bandages. Dazai quickly gathered the rest of the insects, curled them into a piece of bandage, and put it into his pocket.

“Are you hurt anywhere? Can you walk?” Dazai asked as he bandaged the wound on Chuuya’s hand. There were usual signs of post-Corruption, such as bleeding and exhaustion, but he didn’t know how it would affect their new body.

Chuuya nodded and whipped the blood away with their other sleeve. The redhead waited for Dazai to finish bandaging their hand, then pushed themselves to stand up. Dazai positioned himself to kneel on the ground and pointed his back at the ginger.

“What are you doing?” Chuuya asked him.

“Did Slug hit their pretty head? I’m gonna give you a piggyback. Duh.” Dazai said. The brunette expected Chuuya to scream back at him, but the redhead didn’t say anything. After a few long seconds, Chuuya hugged Dazai’s neck and hopped on his back.

Walking out of the alley with his tiny partner on his back, Dazai finally had the chance to observe the condition of the shopping street. In the middle of the street, where Chuuya activated Corruption, there was a huge crack starting from the center point. The surrounding buildings were damaged, not enough to collapse, but many walls had been knocked down. The Heroes were present and were using their flashy moves to capture the Instant Villains. On the sides, the medical staff and firefighters were helping the civilians.

The whole ride took a lot longer than Dazai had expected because they had to avoid the injured victims, broken construction, and Heroes asking if they needed help. At last, they arrived at Chuuya’s apartment after sunset. There was no sign of Chuuya’s mom so they slipped into the bedroom without any fuss.

The first thing that Chuuya did after being dropped down from Dazai’s back was to walk to the bathroom and slam the door. Dazai was worried that the redhead could fall in there, but besides the rumbling sound of clothes and running water, he didn’t hear any noise of falling objects.

Dazai took out the insect wrapped in layers of bandage and put it on the study desk. The insect was leaking bug juice and the smashed body parts were mixed into a messy puzzle. The brunette tried to separate the pieces and arranged them around to get a better picture. Turned on the desk lamp, Dazai then carefully observed the black and yellow shells. Combined with the disfigured pair of wings, the insect turned out to be some kind of wasp or maybe a type of Japanese honeybee.  

*Smash* The sound of broken glass snapped him out of his mind. Dazai rushed to the bathroom door and pushed in without knocking. The scene inside made his blood run cold.

Inside the bathroom, Chuuya was standing in front of the broken mirror with a bleeding hand. The blood dripped down their hand from smashing the glass, but the redhead didn’t seem to notice. All of Chuuya’s attention was focused on the very faint red pattern that was still printed on their naked body. The Corruption wasn’t active as Chuuya wasn’t in their destructive mode. However, the presence of the pattern was enough to make Chuuya want to claw their skin off, and they did just that.

Chuuya panickingly dug their nails into their neck and started scratching as if that would get rid of the crimson pattern. The nails ran deep enough to draw blood, and Chuuya seemed to be more and more desperate as their hands moved to their pale chest and arms.

Dazai was shocked by his partner’s state but immediately jumped in to stop them. The brunette grabbed Chuuya’s wrists and held their hands away from continuing to hurt themselves.

“GET OFF ME!” The redhead yelled at him and wriggled to get out of his grip.

Dazai knew if Chuuya wanted to get out of his hold, they could do it easily, so the redhead likely wasn’t in their right mind.

“Stop it, Chuuya!” Dazai moved his head to avoid a claw. “It’s gone!” The moment that Dazai had touched Chuuya, the crimson pattern had once again disappeared from their body. However, Chuuya was too unstable to notice it.

The redhead was breathing heavily, and their pupils were unfocused. Chuuya was still processing Dazai’s words, but at least they no longer struggled to get out of each other’s hold. Dazai used this chance to guide the redhead away from the glass shards and sat down on the bathroom floor. The brunette positioned both of them so that Dazai was hugging Chuuya from behind and still had his grip on the redhead’s wrists.

Chuuya’s bareback was leaning against Dazai’s chest, and he could feel that the ginger was slowly calming down with their breath. After a while, Chuuya went limp in his embrace. Dazai didn’t know if they were tired from the blood loss or just simply didn’t want to face the cruel reality. The brunette released Chuuya’s bleeding hands and wrapped his arms around his petite partner. Chuuya didn’t even flinch as Dazai’s arms were placed on their stomach and chest to keep them warm.

The sound of water running in the tub lured them into a false sense of security, but for now, they welcomed it.

It was bad.

For the first time in this world, things were out of their control.

Their once trump card and ultimate weapon had now become the sword of Damocles hanging over their head.

The activating verses no longer worked, so they couldn’t use Corruption for any potential threat. However, the Trigger was, in a way, Chuuya’s death sentence if Dazai wasn’t around to nullify it. Not to mention if Corruption was unleashed in a crowded city, it would be nothing less than a calamity.

Dazai didn’t really care about the city, though. He was more wary of the fact that Chuuya once again robbed away the control over their own life. His partner deserved to be human, to live without the fear of being reduced to nothing but a vessel of god. If Dazai had to commit unforgivable sins to achieve that, then so be it.

A kill intent flashed through the brunette’s eyes. The arms wrapped around Chuuya’s figure became tighter.

Chuuya still didn’t move any muscles. Their mismatched eyes were glued on the broken pieces of glass on the ground. Dozens and dozens of reflections stared back at them.

A few blocks away from the destroyed street, a short-haired high school girl was taking a stroll carefreely despite lines and lines of ambulances and police cars blocking the traffic.

<You really overdid it, Hachisuka.> A mechanical voice spoke to the girl from her earphone. <Yes, the Trigger you’ve been entrusted with is yours to distribute at your discretion, but it’s a precious commodity. Not something to dole out so indiscriminately.>

“Oh. Who cares? You’re getting your data, aren’t ya? The other party doesn't have this much concern.” The girl said while adjusting the medical eye patch on her left eye.

<It’s a matter of efficiency. A person’s physical abilities are heavily influenced by their strength of character, and Quirks are no exception. A strong personality and spirit are needed to wield an uncommonly powerful Quirk.> As the person continued, the girl walked to a crepe vendor and placed an order.

“Like with Heroes?” The girl asked. <Yes. And Villains too. Be more selective with your targets from now on. What we seek are those with a strong will who can exploit the full potential of Trigger.> 

“Annoying. I mean, those types are usually a pain.” The girl took a bite of the newly made crepe.

<Do as you’re told… Did you find anything about the sudden spike of energy after you released the Triggers?>

“Hum. Nope. It ended too quickly, and some of my workers were crushed due to that release of the unusual energy.” The girl petted a bee landing on her face with gentle strokes.

<Inform me if you have intercourse with that Quirk again.>

<Tut tut…>

Chapter Text

What do you do when you face the thing that killed you?

Maybe Chuuya should ask Dazai that question, judging by the fact that the Mackerel managed to look at himself in the mirror every day. 

Chuuya wasn’t sure if it was their imagination, but the restlessness crawling under their skin was driving them crazy. Their nails kept finding a way to dig into the flesh of their palms.

“Chu-chu? Is something wrong?” Their mom asked them. Nakahara Ayano had a worried look on her face as she looked at her daughter from the opposite seat. On the dining table, the breakfast was getting cold, and Chuuya still hadn’t taken a bite.

Chuuya opened their mouth but found themselves unable to come up with an excuse. Fortunately, the uninvited guest of this household was there for the rescue.

“We have an important test today. Chuuya’s anxious that they won't ace it.” Dazai said before taking a sip from his coffee mug. Under the table, Dazai’s hand reached over the redhead, and Chuuya felt their restlessness ease.

Ayano believed the brunette because why wouldn’t she? In her eyes, Chuuya was a ‘normal’ middle schooler, there weren't many things that kids at their age cared much about.

“Is that so? Don’t worry too much, honey. You’ll do great.” Ayano reassured her kid. “Take care of yourself. I don’t want you to work yourself to exhaustion.”

The eye bags under Chuuya’s eyes were quite visible on the pale skin, and they could even imagine the blood vessels in their tired eyes. The redhead didn’t remember going to sleep last night. The entire night had been a walk in limbo as Chuuya had felt so disconnected from their own body. By the time they snapped awake with Dazai holding them, it was nearly school time.

“I’m fine, Mom,” Chuuya said with a blank voice. They bite into the unfavored egg roll.

When the students were ready to head out, Ayano pulled Dazai aside and whispered to him. “Osamu, can you keep an eye on Chu-chu? Please call me if something happens to her.”

Dazai made a salute, “Don’t you worry, Ayano-san. I will take good care of them.”

It wasn’t a hard task, but a mentally difficult one nonetheless. Chuuya stayed quiet throughout the day, and Dazai had to hold their hand so that the redhead wouldn’t accidentally wander in a random direction. Sometimes Dazai caught Chuuya blinking and gazing around them as if the world they had lived in for nearly 7 years was nothing more than a hallucination. The colorful hair and features of this Quirky world, combined with the chatting in the classroom, were familiar but strange at the same time. Dazai wondered if Chuuya had expected to see the Port Mafia office every time they snapped out of their deep thoughts.

“That’s it,” Dazai said as he stood up from his seat. “Let’s get out of here.”

Chuuya looked up from the textbook. Currently, their class was having a self-study period, and the students were either chatting or playing games on their phones.

“What nonsense are you yapping about?” Chuuya said.

“Don’t you see, Chuuya? School is nothing more than a cage that constrains our creativity. I’m saying that we rebel against the system. Let’s skip classes!” Dazai declared his brilliant idea.

Chuuya raised their eyebrow. This wasn’t an unusual thing for Dazai to skip school or anything. Normally, Chuuya would be a better person and drag him back before the teachers call their parents. However, on this particular day, Chuuya couldn’t even pretend to care about the consequences. They didn’t have enough patience for another boring lecture or to be surrounded by a bunch of children.

“Let’s go.” The redhead signed. Dazai beamed at them, and Chuuya felt a bit of weight lift from their shoulders.

The duo collected their bags and sneaked out of the classroom. They carefully avoided the teachers and headed to the back of the school. There was a spot behind the baseball field that was hidden away from the security camera. Chuuya used their Quirk to jump over the wall and held out their arm for Dazai. The brunette picked up speed and stormed on the wall to grab it for Chuuya to pull him up.

“Where are we going?” Chuuya asked Dazai when they finally hit the street.

“... I didn’t think that far,” Dazai said, and Chuuya wanted to facepalm.

“Butttt we can figure it out.” The brunette grabbed Chuuya’s hand, and they continued their school-skipping adventure.

They were still wearing school uniforms, so they received many questioning looks from others, asking why they were there in the middle of a school day. The duo either lied or ignored them while continuing to wander through the city. They ended up at Naruhata's train station after rounds and rounds of walking aimlessly.

Dazai stopped in front of an automatic ticket machine, “Hum~ Where to go? Do you have a place that you want to be, Chibi?”

Chuuya thought for a bit, “Maybe… the ocean?” The words sipped out of their mouth unconsciously. The redhead didn’t know why, but for a second, Chuuya really missed the smell of the sea.

“The ocean? Does the Slug want to go to the beach? Aren't you afraid the salt would shrink you down?” Dazai said and then successfully avoided a kick on his bicep.

“Who's afraid of that bullshit? You bastard!!” Chuuya yelled at him. Dazai smiled at their action, but before Dazai was glad that Chuuya was coming back to normal, their next sentence made him pause.

“Nah. Forget the beach. Where’s the nearest port?” Chuuya said and pushed Dazai aside to use the ticket machine.

“... Why do you want to go to a port?” Dazai asked.

Chuuya shrugged, “Feel like it.” The redhead then asked Dazai, “Why do you ask? Won’t you come with me?” The heterochromatic eyes met him with unspoken emotions.

Dazai was uncertain if going to a place that reminded them of both of their past would be a good idea. However, there was no way that Dazai would leave Chuuya alone after yesterday’s event.

“Of course, I’ll go with you. Now, where will we - the greatest adventurers begin our journey?” Both of them focused back on the tablet to pick a destination. There wasn’t a Yokohama Port in this world, so they settled at the Tokyo Harbor in the Minato district. The subway wasn’t connected straight to the harbor, so they bought tickets to Minato city and then took a bus to get there. 

Tokyo Harbor was as massive as they remembered. In their old world, Chuuya and Dazai had had one of their first major missions in this place. It had been a weapon dealing which, for some reason, ended up with disposing of a bomb on the Rainbow Bridge.

The salty wind washed through their locks of hair. Chuuya hopped on a rusty container and took in the busy view of the port. Giant ships were constantly moving in and out, the containers were arranged into colorful blocks of a puzzle, and the workers were running in sweaty clothes.

“Ugh! Slug, mind giving me - hah - a hand?” Dazai struggled to climb onto the container with his pre-teen body.

Chuuya looked back at the brunette but made no move to help him. The redhead continued to walk toward the shore, their shoes making cracking sounds on the metal surface of the containers.

“Hey! Don’t leave me!” Dazai pulled himself up and ran after the ginger.

They intentionally chose a deserted area to avoid getting caught. The place was used mainly for storage, so there weren't many people or activities going on here. From their current position, the workers were as small as ants, but the moving cranes and the sound of the ship horn were clear as day. 

Dazai soon caught up and walked side by side with Chuuya. The brunette was humming an unknown tune and seemed to be enjoying the weather. A few times, Chuuya found themselves stealing glances at the boy next to them. It was hard to imagine that this kid had been the merciless Black Wraith. Sometimes Chuuya wondered if this was even actually their Dazai Osamu or if this person was a similar version of him in the infinite universe. However, every time the brunette showed the smallest habit belonging to the man, Chuuya’s heart skipped a beat.

The sound of the waves was getting closer, and they finally reached the end of the container blocks. Chuuya jumped down and walked to the edge of the concrete shore. The wind picked up, and Chuuya used their Quirk to stop their hair and skirt from blowing up.

“Don’t even think about it, Mackerel,” Chuuya said when Dazai had his hand hovering over them.

“You’re no fun, Chibi.” Dazai pouted and put his hand into his pockets.

Chuuya ignored him to focus on the sound, the smell, and the color of the sea. Chuuya tried to compare those with the Yokohama Port but found themselves only remembering blurred images of the city that they once called home.

“So~ How is your brooding session?” Dazai smiled mischievously like a cat.

“It was fine until you opened your fishy mouth,” Chuuya responded.

“Chu-Chu is so heartless. And here I am, being a good partner and preparing a surprise for you.” The brunette took out a package from his backpack. It was a green gift box the size of a book. A fancy golden logo was engraved on the box, and it was tied by a long white ribbon.

“I swear to God. If you put an explosion in this, I’ll push you down the shore and let you drown.” Chuuya gazed at the box but still raised their hands and received it.

Dazai gasped dramatically, “And I thought you knew me, Chuuya. I would never… repeating the same trick for the third time.” 

Chuuya rolled their eyes, “So what is the occasion?” Their fingers were playing with the ribbon on the box.

“Has my little Slug become a goldfish? It’s your 13th birthday!” 

The redhead blinked, “Oh. Is it the 29th of April already?”

“Yup. Welcome to your second puberty! Are you excited to be an insufferable teenager again?”

“Hah? You are the insufferable one! Your 15-year-old was the most unhinged punk that I have ever met.”

“Aww~ I’m glad that I have left such a unique impression on you. Now, hurry up and open it! We don’t have all day.” Dazai gestured to the redhead to open the box.

Chuuya untied a ribbon on the gift and opened the lid. They were mentally prepared for something to blow up or maybe a dumb gift. However, the redhead wasn’t expecting to see a familiar pair of leather gloves wrapped carefully inside the box. 

“Why?” They asked the brunette. A stupid question, really. Chuuya knew why Dazai gifted them this. In the previous life, Chuuya had worn gloves as a way to better control the destructive power inside of them, and yesterday's event was the exact reason to start wearing these again. However, Chuuya couldn’t help feeling rage building up inside of them. Despite everything they had gone through, despite their ‘death’, they still went back to these. A pair of black cuffs on their hands.

Dazai didn’t notice the redhead’s inner thoughts as he grabbed their hands. “You have been fidgeting with your fingers all day, and it would be inconvenient if you end up scratching your hands.”

The brunette put the leather gloves on Chuuya’s hands, and they fit perfectly. Chuuya didn’t even question why Dazai knew their size. 

“When did you even have time to get these?” Chuuya touched the gloves on their hands to feel the high-quality texture.

“I sneaked out to buy these during lunchtime.”

“And here I was wondering why you needed a half-hour bathroom break… What about the money then? These aren’t cheap.” Chuuya knew luxury items, and these gloves weren’t something that came out of a middle-schooler’s pocket.

“What is this? An interrogation? Can’t I have a ‘thank you’ for being an awesome human being without a million questions thrown into my face?” Dazai pouted childishly.

Chuuya sighed, “Fine. Thank you. Did you still go on those gambling websites that I told you not to?”

“Chuuya isn’t my mom, and I’m allowed to have hobbies. It’s just a coincidence that my hobby involves ruining strangers’ lives by exploding their bad decisions.” Dazai had a smug face as if he were proud of his reason.

“Pff!” Chuuya quickly covered their chuckles, but Dazai still caught it.

“Is that a laugh I hear? Does Slug finally appreciate my charming humor?” Dazai crouched down to see the redhead’s face.

Chuuya held back a smile and pushed the brunette away, “Shut up. You have such a nasty personality.”

Chuuya appreciated Dazai’s effort to cheer them up, though. The soft gloves warmed up their hands, and the redhead could slowly feel the bubbling energy inside of them becoming more bearable. However, Chuuya had overestimated Dazai’s EQ because the next sentence coming out of the Mackerel’s mouth made the entire effort go down the drain.

“I think that you should drop out of the whole Trigger case,” Dazai said suddenly.

The redhead scowled, “Huh?! What are you saying? We didn’t go through all that trouble to drop it before even scratching the case’s surface.”

“Not we. Just you.” Dazai grimaced as if he had predicted Chuuya’s reaction. 

“What the fuck?! Is this because of Corruption? Why? You think that I’m useless now that I can’t control it anymore.” Chuuya yelled at the brunette.

“No! It’s not that-” Dazai didn't manage to speak before the redhead cut him off.

“Screw you! I can beat your weak ass even without my Ability. Arahabaki can try all it wants, and I still come out on top.”

“BUT YOU DIDN'T! It killed you!” Dazai shouted. Chuuya wasn’t sure they had even heard Dazai scream like that. He sounded so desperate and scared.

The brunette let out a deep breath, “Please, Chuuya. I can’t fail you again. If something happened and I couldn’t stop Corruption in time, I…” Dazai couldn’t finish the sentence, but Chuuya could guess what he wanted to say. That only made the ginger angrier.

“You have no right! After all this time.” Chuuya gritted their teeth and looked straight at the person in front of them. In Dazai’s eyes, Chuuya could see the kind of emotions that they didn’t even know the brunette was capable of feeling.

However, one thing hit them the most.

Guilt. 

Dazai felt guilty because of Chuuya’s death.

It was unbelievable and ridiculous. Had Dazai felt responsible for their death all these years? Did he really believe that Chuuya’s death was because of him?

Chuuya stopped looking at Dazai and stared down at their new leather gloves.

-

*SLAP*

The sharp sound echoed through the luxury penthouse. There were empty wine bottles all over the floor. On the coffee table, cigarette trays were filled to the rim, and the smell of smoke haunted every surface. Most of the furniture was damaged in some ways and the whole room looked like it had suffered from a tornado.

Chuuya didn’t even flinch from the pain on his cheek. It took a full minute for the redhead to tiredly raise his head from the couch to meet his pseudo-older sister. Kouyou had an angry scowl on her face, but in her eyes, there was pity and empathy.

“Stand up. I’m not gonna let you ruin yourself over Dazai fucking Osamu.” She said with a steel voice and grabbed the collar of his shirt.

She then summoned the Golden Demon to collect Chuuya’s things while continuing to talk sense into him. “You’re now the Boss, and you need to act like one. There are people who rely on you. There is a city that needs the Port Mafia to keep it from falling into chaos.” 

“I know that. I’m just…” Angry? Sad? Grieving? Chuuya didn’t even understand himself anymore. After ‘the incident’, for months, Chuuya had gone from an uncontrollable force fueled by rage to a shut-in alcoholic. He had been locked up in his apartment for over a week, and it seemed the high-up executives had reached their limits.

Chuuya hugged the black cloak closer to his chest as if he could drag out the smell and warmth from its previous owner. A blood-colored scarf was hung on the corner of the living room, and Chuuya couldn’t stand to look at it. He probably looked pathetic at the moment. Heck, he definitely felt pathetic.

Seeing no intention of standing up from Chuuya, Kouyou sighed and sat down next to him. She placed her hand on his messy hair and started to stroke it to smooth out the curls. Both of them stayed in that position for a while until Kouyou decided to speak up again.

“I’m sorry. It must have been hard for you. Dazai has been an important part of your life and… I know how it feels to lose someone like that.” 

She closed her eyes and continued, “I won’t tell you all the nonsense that things would get better. People like us don’t get to have a ‘happy ending'. We don’t get to see the ‘light’ at the end of the tunnel.”

Chuuya curled deeper into the oversized cloak. Kouyou signaled her Ability to grab the red scarf in the corner.

“But you and I have our duties to fulfill. The duties that are beyond our well-being. You’re Nakahara Chuuya, and you’re the most powerful Ability User in Yokohama. And I REFUSE to let you lie here and rot away like a fallen flower.”

Chuuya didn’t want to hear any of those, but he needed to face the reality sooner or later.

“All the love and hope,” Kouyou grabbed a clear suit for him and carefully put it on the table with Chuuya’s hat and gloves. “They only bring disappointment. You fell for a broken man, and you paid for it.”

He already knew that.

“Now. What is your decision, Chuuya?” The Golden Demon handed her the red scarf, and Kouyou held it out for him.

Chuuya stared at the red scarf for a long time. At last, he stood up and wrapped the long scarf around his neck.

-

“Nakahara-san, what do we do now?” The white-haired boy asked him. Next to him was the young detective from the ADA.

Chuuya was standing on what used to be the Port Mafia headquarters. The five skyscrapers were destroyed alongside a third of Yokohama city during the last conflict. The only comfort was that all three organizations had managed to evacuate most of the civilians in time.

The redhead gazed at their last enemy. An entity that was beyond this realm. A walking calamity that would probably destroy the entire country if they lost.

“Atsushi! Here is how it would go. I’ll activate Corruption and -”

“Hold on! But Dazai is gone, you will-” The boy yelled at him.

“SHUT UP, BRAT! Don’t you dare talk back to your Boss!” Chuuya yelled back louder. “You guys will stay away when I fight that thing. There would be two outcomes. One, I would win, and you have to make sure that I won’t direct my attack to the city, better yet, lead me out to sea. Two, I would lose but manage to injure it, and you guys would find a way to finish it.”

“But you’ll die,” Atsushi said grimly.

*Tch* “Why the fucker even kept you around with that wimpy attitude?” Chuuya clicked his tongue and gazed at the kid whom he had known for years. Atsushi had never fit to work in the mafia.

“A good leader will do what it takes to protect the organization and the city,” Chuuya said as he grabbed the red scarf on his shoulders. “The rest of the plan will depend on you two. Can you do it or not?”

“You can count on me,” The black-haired detective said. Chuuya nodded at him and glanced back at Atsushi. 

The white-haired boy was looking at him with wet kitty eyes. Chuuya was about to smash his furry head, but the kid finally understood the assignment.

“YES, BOSS!” Atsushi shouted.

Chuuya smiled at his subordinate and walked toward the entity. Waves of energy hit him, and he grounded himself with heavy gravity. Chuuya took out his gloves, and he let his hat fly with the wind but kept the weight of the scarf around his neck.

“O acquaintances, grantors of dark disgrace, do not wake me again.” Those words left Chuuya’s tongue, and the redhead felt his consciousness split away.

A part of him hoped that the next time he opened his eyes. He could see the familiar dark brown eyes.

-

The redhead looked up from the leather gloves, and Dazai still had that punchable guilty look on his face.

Chuuya never wanted Dazai’s apologies. They didn’t want his guilt. They knew that most of the things that had happened in their previous life had been more or less shaped by other people’s hands. Therefore, they wouldn’t accept Dazai’s guilt. Because accepting that means that Chuuya had never had control over their own life.

“I don’t need your compensation. You don’t get to decide what I can do just because you felt responsible for my death.” Chuuya told the brunette.

Dazai almost looked hurt by their words, but he tried to reason. “There is a chance that the dealer has seen Corruption and is looking for you. You actively searching for them would only make that easier.”

“So they are tracking me down? Big deal.” Chuuya grabbed a stone on the ground and aimed for the ocean. 

“We just need to do what we always do best. Hunt them down and settle the debt first.” Chuuya threw the stone, and it skipped straight over the waves with the speed of a bullet.

Dazai folded his arms and had the nerve to act like a disappointed parent, “Chibi is being very unreasonable.”

“That’s rich coming from you. Out of all people, you should know that I have never run away from a battle and I won’t start now.”

“I know,” Dazai sighed.

“Then why bother to ask?” Chuuya raised their eyebrow.

“I... I don’t want you to get hurt,” Dazai admitted. “This is supposed to be your new chance in life, and I don’t want to be the reason that you end up losing everything again.”

The redhead didn’t answer right away but instead moved close to Dazai and raised their hands. Chuuya carefully cupped both sides of Dazai's face and pulled him closer to their face. The brunette blinked in confusion, but let the other slowly move their faces inches and inches closer.

*Smash* Chuuya slammed their foreheads together.

“OUCH! What the hell, Chuuya?!” Dazai covered the new bruise on his forehead.

Chuuya threw their head back and gave him a feral smirk, “Well. I just simply kick your fucking ego out of it’s high horse. It was bold of you to assume that things that happen in my life always revolve around you.”

“That is not what I mean-”

“Really? Didn’t you blame yourself for my end and then go on to decide things without my opinion?”

Dazai didn’t answer them, and Chuuya counted it as a win to make him speechless. The redhead dropped their head between Dazai’s collarbones.

“This is my fight. I can’t run away from this, and I won’t. So please, Osamu.” Chuuya wrapped their arms around his shoulders, “Don’t do things for my sake. Stay with me, and we’ll work things out together.”

Both of them stayed like that as the wind blew through their hair and the waves continued to hit the shore.

*Ring ring* A ringtone snapped them out of their comforting peace.

Dazai took out his phone and sighed, “It looks like our little adventure is cut short.”

On the screen was his mom calling, and there were multiple messages from his parents. The school had noticed their absence and told the parents. This wasn’t the first time they skipped school, but it’s the first time that they got caught, so they would need to be more careful in the future.

Chuuya also took out their phone and checked the text, “Hum. Just for you know. I’m shifting all the blame on you.”

“You know that won’t exactly make any difference because you did follow me, right?” Dazai adjusted his backpack and held out his hand.

The redhead grabbed his hand, “I mean, who would keep you out of trouble if it isn’t me?”

Their parents weren’t impressed with the excuse of rebelling against the educational system. Chuuya shouldn’t have left Dazai to come up with the excuse because it was stupid, and nobody was buying it. Fortunately, because it was the first (that they knew of), the duo got out easily with only a little punishment.

“I hope that you’ll think about what you have done, young lady.” Their mom said to them with a serious attitude.

Chuuya avoided her disappointed eyes, “Yes, I’m sorry, Mom.”

“Very well, go back to your room.” Ayano pointed to their bedroom door, but before Chuuya entered, she stopped them and said. “But I’m glad that you look better than this morning.”

Chuuya smiled at her as they opened the bedroom door.

The first thing that caught their attention when entering the room was a present box on their desk. Next to it, there was a birthday card that ended with the line ‘From your Mom’. The sight warmed up Chuuya’s heart, and they quickly opened the door and yelled a ‘thank you’ down the hallway.

The present was a golden bracelet with different charms in the shapes of a dog, a hat, a fish, a kokeshi doll, and a wine glass. 

Before Chuuya finished admiring the gift, a familiar knock came from the window.

Three loud knocks and two small knocks.

Chuuya held back a chuckle and walked to open the window.

Chapter Text

Chuuya didn’t usually judge people when they were trying their best, but Koichi simply wasn’t cut out for this type of training.

*Fwump* The sound of his fist hitting the boxing pads was way too weak in Chuuya’s opinion. The guy hit as if he were afraid the training pads would get hurt or something.

“Koichi, put more force on your footwork. And punch like you actually mean it.” Chuuya advised the older teen from the sideline.

“Eh?! How?” Koichi asked with a heavy breath. The college student struggled to keep up with Knuckle’s training rhythm.

“Punch harder,” Chuuya yelled.

Koichi nodded and prepared to swing a heavy hit, only to lose the balance of his foot grip and miss the pads entirely. He fell forward and nearly broke his chin. The redhead sighed and gazed at the pad holder. Knuckle Duster didn’t even pretend to care about his apprentice's situation. In fact, Chuuya could tell the old man didn't have his mind on this training.

Sitting on the roof of Koichi’s apartment, Pop Step was dangling her legs while swiping through her phone. Next to her was Dazai with a comic book.

“Hey, brat. Look at this. People are writing about the Natuhata's Vigilantes on social media.” Pop showed her phone to the brunette boy.

Dazai stopped to check her phone. “... Who is ‘the Cruller’?” He asked.

“Oh. That’s Koichi. He tried to rebrand his Vigilante name as ‘the Crawler,’ but people misheard it.” Pop Step said and then swiped to another status, “They also talk about the old man, but they only refer to him as ‘Freaky Fist Grandpa’.”

“You know what. I can get behind that name.” Dazai continued to read other statuses about what the civilians had been saying about the new Vigilantes group, but another post caught his eye.

It was a photo of Naruhata’s shopping street after Chuuya released Corruption. Nearly the entire street was destroyed as well as most of the nearby buildings. The media compared the destruction to a 5.0 earthquake. The authority didn’t give out any explanation for this accident, only mentioning the captured Instant Villains and how amazing the Heroes were.

Pop Step noticed he was staring at the post and commented, “You know. Me, Koichi, and the old man were near the area when this happened. We heard a loud bang, and then suddenly, people, objects, and even cars were lifted up from the ground. It was so bizarre.”

“Really? Did you see anything else?” Dazai kept his tone even to hide his curiosity.

Pop Step thought about it for a bit, “We saw a lot of Heroes passing by to get to the Villains.”

That wasn’t that much useful information since he had already checked the police report.

“Although the old man was acting pretty weird during that time,” Pop added, and that piqued his interest. Before Dazai could ask more questions, they were distracted by Koichi being knocked down to his ass by Knuckle Duster.

The old man had used the boxing pad in his right hand to smash Koichi’s face. On the sideline, Chuuya was pitching between their brows.

The younger man tried to sit up and rub the bruise on his head. “Ughh… I don’t think I’m suited to fist-fighting. No offense, but this boxing training feels kind of pointless.”

Chuuya had to agree with him, “No kidding. From what I have seen, you don’t have the guts to hurt people. Besides, your sliding Quirk requires you to have at least 3 contact points to the surface, so you can’t even use boxing techniques with your Quirk.”

“You ain’t wrong.” Knuckle Duster took out the training pads and threw them to Koichi. “Just leave all the punching to me. You should make yourself useful in some other way.”

“Um… What am I supposed to do with these?” Koichi asked his teacher.

“Put the pads on,” The old man said. After Koichi put on the boxing pads, the old man immediately used the guy as a punching bag. Knuckle only aimed for the pads, but each punch was packed with force and energy that the younger guy lacked.

*WHAM, WHAM* With each impact, Koichi was knocked back a little until he couldn’t keep up anymore.

“Ahh!” The guy yelled as he once again fell back on his butt.

“Koichi!” Pop Step hurriedly jumped down to check on the guy. “Wanna try holding back a little, gramps? You know Koichi’s weak as a bug, right?”

“Uhh… my lower… m-my feelings,” Koichi whined from the ground.

Chuuya walked toward the guy and checked his condition. Kochi looked a bit beat up and had a bleeding nose but nothing broken overall. The redhead helped him sit up and took the boxing pads from his hands.

“I think you should check another fighting style. Something that is not leaning too much on offense.” Chuuya advised before turning to Knuckle Duster, “Hey, old man! Mind being my trainer?” The redhead threw the pads back to the man and then aimed a kick toward him.

Even an amateur could see that the kick was way stronger than Koichi’s pathetic punch. Chuuya didn’t have an advantage in weight and size, but every time the petite ginger threw a punch or swung a kick, Chuuya put their entire body weight into it. Therefore, even without Gravity Manipulation, Chuuya could pack pretty decent attacks. Additionally, Chuuya was quick and flexible, so they could avoid getting hit and quickly prepare their attack form.

“Whoa! I know that she’s good, but those moves are impressive.” Koichi said while using his palm to clean out his bleeding nose.

“Wait… Is Chuuya using her Quirk? I don’t see the red aura thingy.” Pop Step spoke up after observing their training.

“Nope,” Dazai finally climbed down from the roof and joined their conversation. “That’s pure material art and Chuuya’s physical strength.” The brunette smirked proudly.

“Really? Is she training to be a Hero? Because with the skills and her powerful Quirk, she would get into a Hero program easily.” Koichi told the boy.

Dazai tilted his head, “I don’t know. Are those what it takes to be a ‘Hero’?”

“Eh?! I guess?” The young man was confused by Dazai’s change of attitude.

Pop Step, on the other hand, was still annoyed with Knuckle Duster. “But anyhow, the old man shouldn’t assume that everyone is a material art genius. It’s one thing to beat the Villains into pulps but treating you like one?”

Koichi just laughed off and defended his teacher, “I don’t think he actually meant it. You guys saw those Villains after fighting him, right? If he were hitting at full power, I’d probably be dead by now. He has been holding back even when he fights the criminals… Although…” The apprentice then realized something.

“Recently, Master has been way rougher than necessary. Since that big breakout of Instant Villains, he has been acting weird and hasn’t been talking much. I wondered if it has to do with that… Bee User.” Koichi said with a thoughtful face.

Suddenly, Koichi felt his shirt being dragged back, and the face of the brunette kid was inches away from his.

“Interesting~ A Bee User, you said? Mind to elaborate?” Dazai had a wide smile that stretched to his ears. His dark brown eyes were like a void staring straight into Koichi’s soul.

The young man repressed a chill that ran down his spine to answer, “I don’t really know. During the breakout, Master saw something and ran off. When we caught up to him, he was asking a bystander about a Bee User, but he didn’t tell us anything.”

“Is that so?” Dazai dropped his hold on Koichi’s shirt. 

The boy turned away to observe the training between Chuuya and Knuckle Duster. His red-haired partner was moving with the flexibility of an acrobat, and every attack was calculated to have the most impact. From a certain angle, Chuuya’s fighting style created a beautiful but deadly dance. On the other hand, Knuckle Duster was as steady as a brick wall. His form screamed professional training and long-time experience.

From the beginning, there had been many mysteries around this man, and Dazai had planned to leave the old man alone with his demons. However, the situation had changed, and Dazai desperately needed information, things that he couldn’t get from the police record. It would be ideal if Knuckle Duster agreed to share his search with them, but if not, Dazai wouldn’t hesitate to blackmail guilt trip to get what he wants.

“Hey, Dazai. Will you join our patrol tonight? Chuuya has said that she would tap along but we don’t know if you’d come with.” Pop Step asked the brunette boy.

“If Chuuya go then I’ll go,” Dazai said.

“Cool. Small advice, you should bring Bluetooth headphones for communication.” Koichi told him as he pointed to his ear. “You can also use your phone to contact us, but headphones will make things much easier. Also, remember to use code names while on the call.”

“I don’t think that you kids have code names yet.” Pop Step pointed out.

“We don’t,” Dazai shrugged. “I’d probably go with Eagle 1 or something.”

Apparently, Dazai was the only one who thought that the code name wasn’t a big deal because Koichi started to make a fuss over it.

“What! But this is your chance to use your childhood Hero name. You can’t go around with a boring name like that.” For some reason, Koichi sounded very offended by his name choice.

“And the Cruller is such a great name,” Dazai said mockingly.

Koichi gasped offensively, “It’s the Crawler! For your information, it’s a great name. Japanese people just have a hard time pronouncing the ‘r’ sound.”

Pop Step rolled her eyes at their childish argument, “This hero nerd won’t give up until you pick something decent. It doesn’t have to be a fancy heroic name, but it won’t do any harm to be addressed by a name that you want to be called.”

Dazai blew a raspberry, “Fine. I’ll pick a name before the patrol.”

The night soon came, and the Double Black found themselves walking through the dark street. The artificial light of the city created perfect shell shadows to hide their faces. Opposite to the Vigilantes group, who dressed up suspiciously and stood out with their unique costume. Chuuya and Dazai wore things that could be easily blended into the crowd, though they still needed to cover the majority of their face. However, in this world, an extra mask wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.

“So do we confront the old man or continue to play buddy with the Hero dressups?” Chuuya asked their partner. 

Dazai had told Chuuya about the conversation about the Bee User and how Knuckle Duster could have more connections to the case than they knew of. The redhead had wanted to have one-to-one combat to win the information, but years of being the mafia’s high-up had taught them to have a plan first. However, Chuuya preferred to push the thinking part on the brunette whenever Dazai’s around. Not because Chuuya couldn’t come up with one, but the Mackerel wasn’t that much useful in combat, and Chuuya wasn’t gonna be the only one to pull the weight in the team.

“It wouldn’t do us any good to confront a grumpy Vigilante with questions that he doesn't want to answer.” Dazai was flipping a plastic card holder around. Inside the flat rectangle holder was a dry-pressed bee’s corpse that had stung Chuuya with the Trigger. The brunette had successfully arranged the smashed body parts and put them into a specimen piece.

“I’m saying that we play the long game and watch Knuckle Duster carefully. Until we make sure that the man is on our side, we will carry on our own investigation.” Dazai explained his plan before putting the dry specimen back in his pocket. “And right now? The night is young, the evils are waiting. Let’s go, my dear sidekick.”

“Fuck you! Who are you calling your sidekick?! Let’s see if I bother to save you when you have your ass kicked.” Chuuya snapped at him.

The patrol areas mainly included the places with past reports of Instant Villains. Even though the Naruhata’s Vigilantes made an effort to check out the small alleys for any kind of criminal activities. Most of the time, they would stick to crowded places where the rampage Villain would likely attack the civilians.

Most of the patrol turned out pretty boring. Koichi, or he liked to be called - the Crawler was busy himself with cleaning up trash on the street and helping drunk businessmen to catch the trains. Pop Step was hopping around, checking the area, but she was pretty distracted, checking her social media and occasionally saying hi when a fan recognized her. 

The Double Black also didn’t have anything interesting going on either. Besides that one time that Chuuya caught a purse-snatcher, there weren't any noticeable activities. At one point, both of them slipped off with Pop Step and Crawler to cover more ground. They ended up finding an empty rooftop to laze around while observing the area.

“I don’t know what I expected, but this is lame~!” Dazai pulled his skin’s face down to make an ugly face. Despite being annoyed with the brunette’s whining, Chuuya had to admit that he was right. The whole patrol reminded them of those low-tier missions back when they had started working for the Port Mafia. Multiple nights of wasting their talent on warehouse watching.

The redhead signed, “It can’t be helped. We don’t have the resources to actively search out the dealers. Our best bet is waiting for them to show up.”

“We should have brought a card game,” Dazai said.

“Maybe next time. At least, we don’t have to deal with reports after every shift.”

“Ugh. Why do you even remind me of that? Those endless stacks and stacks of paperwork have been haunting my nightmares even in this afterlife.”

“You have the nerve to complain when you always find excuses to push those papers on me.”

“I was just preparing you for your future job.” The words slipped out of Dazai’s mouth before he realized what he had said.

Chuuya didn’t say anything back, but Dazai knew that he fucked up. Swallowing a gulp of air, the brunette slowly moved closer to his partner.

“Ever heard of personal space?” Chuuya gazed at him.

“Nope. Is that a new slang?” Dazai took one more step, and their shoulders touched.

Chuuya rolled their eyes, “I’m not mad. You can stop the gross affection.”

“Why? Is the great Nakahara Chuuya scared of a little skin contact?” Dazai smiled mischievously and raised his arms. The brunette aimed at Chuuya's waist and tried to tickle them. However, Chuuya had predicted that action the moment Dazai had raised his filthy claws.

“Not in your dream, fish eyes.” The redhead smirked, showing their full canines. The duo jumped around as they tried to get a step ahead of their partner. For a moment, they were nothing more than a pair of playful young teenagers. Chuuya laughed a bit too loudly when they tripped Dazai, but the brunette managed to drag the ginger down with him.

“Ack!” Dazai yelped when his back hit the ground.

“Ah-ha ha ha-” Chuuya was still laughing despite falling on top of the brunette. Their body was shaking, and their breath was heavy and shallow. The weight of the petite figure on his body and the ringing laugh next to his ear made Dazai’s heart beat like crazy.

<H-hey- Can you hear me?> A static noise from the earphone merged into Pop Step’s voice.

Dazai coughed to calm his heartbeat before pressing the earpiece to increase the volume, “I’m here. What’s the problem, Pop?” The brunette tilted his head to signal Chuuya to listen in on the conversation. The redhead moved up their body and almost pressed their soft cheek to his face to get closer to the earphone. If that action made Dazai feel something fly in his stomach, he wouldn’t tell. 

<We need your help. A Villain appears on Kashima Street. I don’t know if Koichi can distract him much longer.>

<GAHH!> A distant scream could be heard from the earphone and different noises probably came from the surrounding civilians.

Chuuya quickly stood up and removed themselves from Dazai. “Time for some action. Come on, Osamu.”

“You should call me by the code name, Rouge.” Dazai teased them.

“Whatever, Azure. Let’s go.” The redhead scaled down the building while Dazai headed to the emergency staircase.

When Chuuya reached the street, the Instant Villain was running all over the place. The guy clearly wasn't really in his right mind as he was only focusing on hitting anything that moved in his sight. There was no purpose, only pure rage and insanity in his eyes.

“W-whoa! Wait!” Koichi yelled at the Villain. The Vigilante was sliding away to lead the Villain away from the civilians. That had worked for a while but the guy seemed to get more and more frustrated every time Koichi dodged his attacks.

On the other side of the street, Pop Step was directing the civilians to evacuate. However, the Villain finally fed up with the Crawler and moved to easier targets. There was a small store where the civilians had run in to take shelter, and the Villain threw a seven-seat car toward it.

The car crashed into the store, and half of the building collapsed. There were people screaming inside who needed to be rescued. That also meant that Chuuya had to leave the Villain to continue his rampage if they chose to help the civilians first.

*Tch* Chuuya clicked their tongue and rushed to the destroyed building. The redhead turned on their communication line to inform the Vigilantes. 

“Pop! I’m gonna secure the attacked building. Tell Crawler to distract the guy a little bit longer.” 

Lifting the car and the debris was easy. The most difficult task was to make sure the structure of the building wouldn't collapse when they removed the objects. One of the main pillars was heavily damaged, and Chuuya had to turn the car vertically to make a temporary stand-in so that the roof wouldn’t fall on the people. The debris lit up in red and was removed to create a path for the people to get out.

“Everyone! Evacuate from the building and scream if you’re too injured to move.” Chuuya shouted from the outside of the store. The civilians were sticking together, but luckily, because they had been keeping a distance from the door, the car, and the majority of debris didn’t fall on them.

People were terrified but hurriedly got out of the building. A few were injured and weren't able to walk, so Chuuya had to float them out.

A young mother was moved to tears when Chuuya helped her kid to get out, “Thank you, Hero.”

Chuuya was startled, “Oh. I’m not-” Their words got cut out by a bouncing pink-haired.

“Rouge! I brought first aid. Also, Gramps is fighting the Villain right now.” Pop Step hopped to where injured civilians ran to. After making sure that Pop Step could manage to evacuate the people, Chuuya ran off to the fight scene.

Knuckle Duster had arrived before them and was currently battling with a 2-meter-tall Villain. The old man was doing fine as he had dodged all the attacks and managed to land a couple of heavy hits on the Villain. However, from their observation, the Villain's Quirk was probably some type of energy enhancement, and he would soon outlast Knuckle’s stamina if the old man couldn’t finish him in time.

The battle was intent and it was difficult to find a perfect weak spot to join in. Chuuya didn’t worry that they would get hit, but the old man could end up making a mistake if Chuuya suddenly jumped into the middle of such a high-rhythm fight. Apparently, their newcomer also shared the same thought.

“Eh~ No need to lend the old man a hand. He seems to enjoy the challenge.” As always, Dazai showed his face when everything was about to wrap up. Chuuya retreated to the brunette’s side and watched the match unfold. The Double Black wasn’t the only audience, standing on their side was Koichi, biting his nails in distress.

The Villain was pumping some type of purple energy for a finishing punch. On the sideline, Koichi was panicking at the sight of his mentor getting too exhausted to keep up. However, at the final moment, the old man proved that he wasn’t a fraud by perfectly deflecting the attack and landing a right hook to knock the guy out.

*THUMP* The sound of an unconscious body hitting the ground marked the final note of this conflict.

“Huff huff…” Knuckle Duster breathed out heavily and wiped off the blood on his face. “That Villians was tough. Just as I expected, Villains like that are… the fucking best punch bags.” The old man shouted in excitement at the last sentence.

“Huh?” That was Koichi’s reaction.

Chuuya shook their head, “Seriously? That’s what makes you excited?”

“Don’t you see, kids?! Big Villains are the best target to pound on. Unlike the small flies, these tough punks don’t even complain when you practically kill them.” Knuckle Duster said with a big, bloody grin on his face.

“The only reason he isn’t complaining right now is because he’s out cold.” Chuuya said.

Dazai walked toward the Villain to check his condition. His tongue had a deep purple color, and his eyes were bloodshot and unfocused. The Villain’s skin and muscles were stretched unnaturally as if his body had only transformed recently. The brunette slapped the guy's face, his Quirk activated, and the guy’s body shrank rapidly.

“Well. The guy won’t wake up any time soon. We should get out of here before the police flood the place.” Dazai dusted his hands.

“Was it necessary for you to slap the guy?” Koichi asked the boy and pointed at the handprint on the unconscious man.

“Very,” Dazai lied without missing a beat.

The group walked back to the evacuated civilians to collect Pop Step and returned to Koichi’s apartment. Before they departed, the kid that Chuuya had rescued came to them.

“You’re really amazing, Hero!” The kid said with sparkly eyes and a huge smile.

Chuuya felt a bit awkward being called by that title, so they only nodded at the kid and walked quicker.

“How was the first patrol, ‘Hero’?” Dazai teased them.

Chuuya gently hit his shoulder, “Don’t even joke about that.”

Chapter Text

The tired teacher was going on about an unoriginal lecture while Dazai was busy doodling in his notebook. His drawing of a chihuahua wearing a hat was almost complete when the final bell of the day echoed through the hallway. There was enthusiasm in the air on this particular weekday, students were collecting their things and discussing with each other in high spirits. The reason was that this week was the first time the new club members would meet up and officially take part in their chosen club’s activity. For many freshmen, this was a very new experience for them, as there usually weren’t clubs for students in elementary school.

Chuuya checked their gym bag before asking Dazai about his afternoon plan, “I’m going to soccer practice now. Are you actually doing anything productive or just sitting in the library like a creepy loner?”

“How mean~ And I was being a good owner waiting for my little dog to finish their playtime.” Dazai stuck out his tongue.

“Oi! Knock off with the dog joke! It’s been years!” Chuuya swung their bag at the brunette’s head, but he dodged without batting an eye.

“Never! But since Chibi is interested. I’m proud to declare that I’ve joined a club while waiting for you to slaughter those poor kids with a soccer ball.” Dazai put both his hands on his hips.

“I didn’t know they had a club for criminal pursuit.” The redhead said.

“You always have so little faith in me. It’s a completely normal club with very normal people.” Dazai made an effort to emphasize the ‘normal’ word.

Chuuya rolled their eyes, “Whatever. Try not to be a bad influence on the children.”

“You’re saying as if I’m gonna convince them to commit arson or something.”

The red-haired stared at him suspiciously. Dazai flustered his eyes innocently and collected his backpack.

“Have fun destroying your teammates' confidence, Chu-chu!” Dazai said before walking out of the classroom. The students walked past the brunette as he headed to the old building at the back of the school.

On his way, Dazai met another member of the Literature Club. However, the situation was less than ideal. Okura Sadao, the vice president, was cornered by a group of delinquents. The older student, who had a pale face, tried to keep his straight posture in front of the bullies.

“Come on. Don’t you want to help out your friend? It’s not like anyone else wants to hang out with you.” A green-skinned student, whose appearance looked like he got swallowed by a fly-eating plant, smirked at the glasses-wearing student.

“You should be glad that someone like you is even as useful as our pocket,” another one with a wolf head said.

“Yeah. You Quirkless losers need to be grateful that we don’t even hunt you down like the other groups.” The last one was a chubby boy who resembled a boiled potato.

Dazai stopped a few steps away from them. Okura didn't fight back as if he had been used to this kind of treatment, but at the same time, there was a resistant attitude from the boy. The quiet student wasn’t giving the bullies the satisfaction of seeing him being scared or acting submissive. Dazai could somewhat admire people who could keep their self-respect even when everything was against them.

“Okura-senpai! There you are. Would you mind helping me find the club? I might have been lost.” Dazai ignored the existence of the delinquents and asked the older club member.

Okura was surprised by his sudden presence, while the bullies were pissed for being ignored by a freshman.

“Hey! Don’t you see that we’re busy? Get lost!” The green guy snarked at him.

Dazai blinked his big brown eyes and tilted his head, “But our club’s session is about to begin. Shouldn’t you be the one to leave?”

“You!” Like every jerk in this world, the first thing the bullies did was to show off their ‘fancy’ Quirks and hoped their pathetic power would somehow imitate the opponent. 

The green-skinned activated his Quirk and turned his hands into giant Venus flytraps. Dazai didn’t even bother to come up with a mocking line as he effortlessly dodged the guy’s attacks. During the one-sided fight, the brunette accidentally made eye contact with the wolf mutant, who was hesitant to help his ally for some reason. Dazai tilted his head curiously as he finally knocked the plant kid off his feet.

The boy felt his legs being swept, and then he was lying on the floor. A foot stepped on his back to keep him down. Then suddenly, a blue light appeared, and the green guy’s venus flytraps on his hands were gone.

“Ah! My Quirk! What have you done to me?!” He screamed.

The chubby boy was about to step in, but the wolf mutant stopped him, “Be careful! I know this guy! He can take away your Quirk!”

“Hum? Am I that famous, or have we met somewhere?” Dazai smiled creepily at the wolf kid. The animal instinct inside the wolf mutant was screaming at him to run away from the apex predator.

The moment the brunette removed his foot, the plant head scrambled to stand up, and the group of bullies ran off. That left Dazai and Okura alone in the hallway.

“Shall we head to the club? Can’t be late for the first session.” Dazai said as if nothing had happened.

“... This way, follow me.” Okura pushed up his glasses and led the way. The older student was waiting for Dazai to ask about the previous situation or maybe offer fake pity. However, Dazai didn’t say anything.

“Can you actually do that?” Okura broke the silence.

“Do what?” Dazai pretended not to know what he was talking about.

“Take away Quirks,” Okura seemed to fix on his answer.

“Temporary and under certain conditions, yes.” That was all the information that Dazai gave him.

The Literature Club was located on the second floor. Before they even reached the room, the person inside slammed open the old wooden door.

“What took you guys so long?” The president said to her club’s members. Hirano Kotone had been waiting for them before impatiently pulling them into the old classroom.

The club room wasn’t anything fancy. There were some basic things for a social club such as a blackboard, desks, chairs, and a couple of shelves with old books. However, there wasn’t any air-conditioning, the floor made small creaking sounds, and the curtains were washed out and faded under the sunlight. Additionally, this room is also used as a storage for the extra furniture so there were many unused study desks and chairs stacked at the end of the room. Generally speaking, the room was old, suffocating and unimpressive. 

“Welcome to the Literature Club’s first session of the new school year.” Hirano opened the meet-up with a cheerful welcome.

Okura signed, “There are only three of us this year. I don’t know why you have to act as if this is a big deal.”

“Just because we only have one new member this year. That doesn’t mean that us senpai, shouldn't put effort into creating the best school experience for them.” Hirano hit the table to show her enthusiasm. This action created a cloud of dust across the room and made everyone sneeze.

*Ahem* “... Glad to be here,” Dazai coughed out the dust. “So what do we do?”

“Excellent question, newbie! Usually, we’ll start with a short discussion session about a book, but it’s the first meeting, so we’ll start with a three-word story activity instead.” The president explained.

“What is a three-word story?” Dazai asked.

Okura was the one who answered him, “The president will pick three random words and each of us will write a story based on those words.”

Hirano nodded before explaining further, “You can write anything as long as you include those words. Your story can be tragic, comedy, fantasy, have a happy ending, or a sad ending, all for you to decide.”

“Of course, we won’t actually force you to write if you don’t want to. This isn’t a serious club, so even if you only want to have a place to relax and read in silence. You’re also welcome to stay here.” She added.

Dazai hummed and turned his head to the bookshelves, “Do you mind if I check those books?”

“Nope. Be our guest. In the meantime, Okura and I will choose the words for the story.” The president turned back to chatting with the older boy.

The first-year walked toward the wooden shelves. The books were arranged by their genres, and it was quite a collection of classic literature. Dazai was surprised to see that most of the books were from the pre-Quirks era. Normally, middle-schoolers are likely to read fantasy, cheap romance, or comic books about Heroes.

Dazai randomly pulled out a sand-yellow book with a pyramid on its cover. The title ‘The Alchemist’ promised a type of story about some type of mystery adventure, or maybe a fantasy novel. Dazai wasn’t that picky about his reading as long as the writing was good. Therefore, the brunette carried the book back to the middle desk to show his choice. 

“Did anything catch your eye, Dazai?” The president asked him after he sat back at the table. Hirano partially jumped over to see his chosen book, “‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho? Good choice! One of the timeless works.”

“Both me and I have read it. You could borrow it and read it at home. In the next meeting, we could all review and discuss it.” Hirano said and then pulled out a stack of paper. “However, now is the time for writing activity. Today's words are: Baked goods, Sheep, and Window.”

Dazai had expected random words, but these were really ‘random’ words,  “... And I’m supposed to write a story about these?”

“Yup! Let’s start, and then we will use the last 40 minutes to read each other's works and comment on it.”

The rest of the session passed in a comfy silence, with their only company being the sound of a pencil on the paper. Dazai had to admit that the experience was kinda relaxing as he could turn off most of his brain and focus on writing anything coming out of his mind. As the phone’s alarm rang, the three students stopped their writing and passed their work in a circle for everyone to read. The story was finished in under 2 hours, so there wasn’t much time to write something too long.

Hirano’s story was about a talking sheep who got lost in a kingdom of tall towers, with the only way into these towers being through a window on the top floor. The sheep smelled a fresh-baked berry pie and saw someone put the pie on the edge of a window. The story was mainly about silly ways the sheep tried to reach the window to get to the pie, and finally, the sheep found a way to knit its fur into a cloud and float to the tower’s window.

Okura’s story was about a baker in a small village. The baker had made a cake covered in whipped icing, and as the baker was about to put on the blueberries to decorate the cake, they found it had disappeared. Their pet sheep had seen the cake through the window and thought it was a weird, small sheep before proceeding to take the cake on its back. The sheep joyfully showed the cake its favorite grass bed, its favorite fence spot, and its favorite rock. In the end, the baker found the sad sheep with the cake had fallen on the ground. The baker ended up remaking two cakes and let the sheep have one.

Dazai’s story was…

“... The gore scene is well-written… and very detailed,” Okura said after finishing reading the freshman’s story.

“Well… umm… ha ha… you’re quite a horror fan, hah?” Hirano laughed reluctantly. The girl looked quite pale after reading Dazai’s work. However, she was too polite to reject reading the kohai’s work.

“I’m not really a fan. It was… more of a habit.” Dazai said mysteriously.

His story was about a sheep trapped inside a slaughterhouse. Through an internal window, it could hear the sound of its species getting butchered. The first half of the story focused on the mental journey of the sheep waiting for its painful death and that ended with a very gruesome scene of the sheep being skinned and chopped into pieces. The second half had a different tone of writing, as it was about the process of making a sheep meat pie for a housewife. The last bit of the story was wholesome and sweet. The taste of the pie was described so well that it left a taste of blood, fat, and spice on the reader’s tongue.

The president shakingly put up a thumbs-up, “Everyone has a different expression. I'm glad you had fun engaging in our club’s activities.”

“I’m actually like your story. The change of tone was unique, and the story came out strong.” Okura commented on Dazai’s work.

“Thank you, Okura-senpai. Your work is well-written, too, and it has a good flow. I can really see something like it in professionally printed children's books.” Dazai said as he finished the older boy’s essay.

Hirano beamed up proudly, “Ho ho ho! Let me enlighten you about our talented vice president. Okura is, in fact, an author with weekly publishing works in magazines.”

Okura embarrassingly kicked her leg to stop her from praising him, “C-cut it out. Those for a local children's magazine. My work isn't that good for anything on a professional level.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You must be quite a talent for people to keep requiring your work.” Dazai said.

“... Thanks for the compliment.” Okura pushed up his glasses to hide his red cheeks. Despite all the hardship from society, the eighth-grader was only a child, and he wasn’t immune to being shy of the praises.

The first session of the Literature Club wrapped up successfully. Before leaving the classroom, Dazai put the yellow book into his backpack and waved to the upperclassmen. Chuuya was waiting for him when he arrived at the school gate. Their hair was a little damn so they must have gone to the shower right after the practice.

“How was it?” The redhead asked him.

“It was fine. A good way to kill time.” Dazai said and raised his hand to sweep off a wet lock of hair stuck on his partner’s face.

When Dazai and Chuuya arrived at Koichi’s apartment, Pop Step and Duster Knuckle were already there. Opening the door, the first thing that greeted them was the delicious smell of fried garlic.

“Hey, kids! Just whipping up some fried rice. You want some?” Koichi asked them as he continued to swirl the pan.

“No thanks. We grabbed something from the convenience store.” Chuuya showed the plastic bag in their hand. The redhead then noticed Koichi’s unusually cheerful attitude. The college student had a big smile on his face and was happily setting the table.

Dazai also noticed Koichi’s attitude, “Someone’s in a good mood. Mind sharing with the group?”

“Apparently, he got scouted by some Pro Hero.” Pop Step, who was checking her phone, answered for the guy.

“Nah… Just got his business card, that's all.” Koichi rubbed his head embarrassingly. The Vigilante held out a white card and handed it over to Dazai when the boy asked if he could see it.

“Eh? Lame.” Pop Step said as she received her plate, “Those guys probably print out mountains of those.”

“Maybe so. But it still feels good to get recognized. Doesn’t it?” Koichi didn’t seem to be offended by the girl’s words.

*Munch, munch* “... What? Not happy with your current Master, then?” Knuckle spoke up between his bites of fried rice.

“No offense. You’re from, like, a whole other genre, Master. When I say “recognized”, I mean by actual people in actual society.” Despite his respect for the older man, Koichi was very aware of how suspicious the man was.

“For real,” Pop Step nodded, agreeing with him.

Settling with the rest of the group at the only table in the room, Dazai and Chuuya leaned to each other to read the card. The information on it was simple with the Hero Agency’s name, phone number, and most importantly, Hero's name.

“Turbo Hero - Ingenium. He isn’t a local Hero in Naruhata, right?” Chuuya asked and tried to remember if they had ever heard this name around here. Then again, the redhead wasn’t a reliable source when it came to the whole Hero’s things.

“Nope. I accidentally met him when I was practicing my Quirk in an empty neighborhood. He gave me some tips on my Quirk and told me that mine would help a lot, being a front-line supporting staff.” Koichi explained.

“A support personnel? Can you work as one without a Hero license?” Dazai asked.

Koichi thought a bit before answering, “Well. I would need to get a professional license for it for sure. However, from what I know, it's quite difficult to get a license if you didn’t go through a Hero school. In fact, 98.9% of Heroes and sidekicks in Japan right now all graduated from Hero programs.” The Vigilante presented pretty disheartened when mentioning the static.

Chuuya tilted their head, “Really? Why didn’t you join one? You seem to be a hardcore Hero fan. I have been curious why you chose to be an unpaid community helper instead of throwing yourself into those programs the first chance you got.”

Koichi was troubled a second before telling his story, “I, uh… The truth is, up through middle school, I was dead serious about becoming a Pro Hero. I even signed up for the entrance exam to get into a hero course at a high school here in Tokyo.” 

Koichi then told the group about how he had missed the entrance exam. On the morning of the exam, Koichi had passed a boy falling into a river and decided to jump in to save him. This event caused him to arrive late, and he was refused permission to take part in the exam.

“How ironic. Missing a chance to become a Hero to save a person.” Dazai commented. The brunette didn’t have much faith in this system anyway, but it was something to think about as to why the government thought that middle school was the right age to decide future career. Especially a career that involves society’s security.

“Don’t worry, kid. I can teach you to pound the Villains way better than those schools could.” Knuckle Duster said proudly to his apprentice.

“Yeah… I’m still unsure about punching things.” Koichi said.

“That’s stupid,” Pop Step said suddenly.

Koichi was confused, “Huh? I won’t say punching is stupid-”

“Not that. Is just that- Ugh- Basically, all that playing at being a Hero ended up screwing over your potential career path.” The pink-haired got frustrated out of nowhere, “So ridiculous. I’m leaving.” Pop Step stood up, leaving a half-eaten plate.

“Eh? Why’re you mad?” Koichi tried to ask the girl, but his answer was the door slamming in his face.

After Pop Step left, Koichi turned to ask the others at the table. “Is it something I said?”

“Beat me,” Chuuya bit into a protein bar.

“Woman, am I right?” Dazai faked a sign and ignored the side-eyes from his partner.

A brunette boy was swinging his legs at the edge of a building. On his lap was a mini tablet, and he was typing information into a document. Calling it a document was a bit of a stretch. Dazai arranged the whole thing to look like a messy stringboard with random rainbow-colored highlights and an unholy amount of stickers. 

“I have analyzed all the Instant Villains’ attacks. From what I can tell, some patterns could help us identify the dealers.” Dazai said.

Chuuya took their eyes from the traffic below and turned to their partner. “Feel free to share anytime, Mackerel.”

Dazai pouted, “I’m here. Doing all the brain work to spare my poor Slug from overheating their tiny brain and still no reward for me.”

The redhead flicked Dazai’s forehead. “It’s your job. Stop complaining, and I may consider rewarding you.”

Dazai pouted even harder, “Fine~ Let’s start with this. After nearly a month, we have encountered enough Trigger Users to establish a few things. First is the time of the crime.”

He opened to a timetable, “From our record, the Instant Villains happened at random times of the day. However, most of the attacks happened during periods of time from 4 or 5 pm to early morning. Can you guess why?”

Chuuya shrugged, “Maybe they have a 9-to-5 job or something.” The redhead said jokingly, but Dazai nodded seriously at them.

“Exactly!” Dazai shouted, “A dealer with a daylight job or a school life.”

“That’s unusual,” Chuuya frowned. Handing important drugs to part-timers was unheard of. Either the high-up was confident that they could control the dealers, or the dealer had really useful skills. The smashed corpse of a bee flashed through Chuuya’s mind.

“Yup. That also means we should actively look for someone with a school uniform or office workers.” Dazai added a new sticker to his document. “Next is the number. Despite all the Instant Villains’ attacks happening recently, there is usually only one or two attacks going on at the same time. This means that only a small number of Triggers go to selected people. Therefore, only one or two dealers are passing out this drug at the moment.”

“So we have the number and appearances. How do we approach this?” Chuuya walked closer to Dazai to peek into the screen. If Chuuya hadn’t been Dazai’s right-hand man for seven years, they would have a hard time finding anything in a research document that looked like a unicorn's vomit.

“I’m thinking of having an ‘interview’ with one of the Trigger Users. The dealers must have been handing out the drugs directly if they want certain people to use them.” Dazai pulled up a criminal file.

“An ‘interview’ you said. Isn’t that right in your alley?” Chuuya smirked.

“I should buy a disposable jacket for this. Wouldn’t want to ruin my good one.” Dazai murmured. 

Chuuya hummed quietly as they imagined Dazai with blood dripping on his pretty face. The brunette wore a sadistic smile and carefully dug his knife into the prey. For some reason, this image made the redhead feel a rising heat on their cheeks.

“Chuuya? Are you listening?” Dazai’s voice snapped Chuuya out of their thoughts.

“Huh? What?” The gravity manipulator wanted to slap themselves. What the heck were they even imagining? Why did that weird image make them feel so strange? Chuuya wasn’t a freak.

Unknown to Chuuya’s inner monologue, the brunette pointed to their earpiece. Pop Step was trying to inform the duo about an emergency.

<We have an Instant Villain with a hardening Quirk. The Crawler is luring him to an empty parking lot, but he’ll need some help soon.> Usually, Knuckle Duster would patrol with the other Vigilantes and act as the offensive force. However, the old man had said that he had business to take care of, so Koichi and Pop were on their own for the day.

“Got it. Send me your location.” Chuuya said into the earpiece.

“It looks like we found our first ‘interviewee’. Better get there before the police.” Dazai closed his tablet. The redhead didn’t wait for him as they jumped to the nearby roof.

“You can do it, Cruller!”

“Dodge, dodge!” The bystanders cheered from outside the parking lot.

“Please call the cops, and keep your distance from the fight.” Pop Step yelled into her microphone.

Chuuya has been supervising Koichi’s practice for a few weeks now. Despite not having any offensive moves, the Vigilante had a talent for mobility. The Villain was chasing and trying to hit the Crawler, but failed every time.

Koichi moved in a zig-zag pattern to dodge the hits, and it had been working pretty well. That was until one of his feet fell into a crack.

“Ack!” He shouted. The Villain swung another fist at him.

A small figure jumped down in front of the Vigilante and blocked the hit. Surrounded by a crimson aura, Chuuya raised their leg and landed a kick at the guy's stomach. The redhead didn’t put a lot of force, but the Villain was still pushed straight to the brick fence. His giant body left a human-shaped crack on the brick wall.

“Good job, Crawler. I’ll take it from here.” Chuuya smirked at the giant rock beast. It had been forever since they had a good fight, so the redhead hoped they could use this chance to practice some of their old moves. The guy even had a hardened skin, so Chuuya didn’t even need to worry if they hit a little too hard.

The Villain stumbled back up and was ready for another fight. Maybe he thought that Chuuya was an easy target due to their size, so he rushed to the redhead with a sloppy fist. 

Chuuya had a cocky smile on their face and both their hands in their pockets. However, before Chuuya could have fun with the new punching bag, a person wearing a mask dashed to them.

Instinctively, Chuuya jumped back and prepared to fight another opponent. The man had a long ponytail, wore a dark red jumpsuit, and carried a long sword on his back. His body language screamed experience and confidence in his skills.

Chuuya observed the man as he went for the Villain instead of attacking them or the Vigilantes. The sharp blade made contact with the rock-hardened skin and created fire sparks. The swordsman's attacks were fast and strong, but those still weren't enough to cut through the hardened Quirk. The Villain couldn’t land a hit on the man either so the fight didn't go anywhere.

Chuuya rolled their eyes and was about to use heavy gravity on the Villain to end the fight.

“It’s the cops!” Pop Step shouted at them. The sound of the siren was getting closer. That made the Villain freak out and run away. The rock giant pushed through the crowd of bystanders and ran in the opposite direction from the police.

The redhead watched the Instant Villain run off, but didn’t make any move to follow him. Chuuya pressed on his earpiece. Their blue and brown eyes didn’t leave the swordsman.

“Azure, the Villain is heading to the southwest,” Chuuya informed Dazai. The brunette would understand the hidden message that the ginger wanted him to follow the Villain. At the moment, Chuuya couldn’t leave the Vigilantes alone with the newcomer before knowing his intention.

Pop Step jumped down from the street pole and walked toward them, “We’d better hightail too!”

Koichi nodded at her, “Right…um.” He then turned to the man, “Thank you for the save. Who are you, exactly?”

“The name’s Stendhal. Another meddler, just like you.” Stendhal put back the katana and jumped up the buildings with excellent parkour skills.

“Wow!” As always, Koichi was easily impressed.

“That was unnecessary. I could have finished the Villain by myself.” Chuuya folded their arms. The redhead also made a mental note to tell Dazai that the man was heading in the same direction as the Villain.

“Whatever. Let’s get out of here!” Pop pointed to the police’s cars getting closer.

Chuuya and Koichi followed the girl to get out of the area. At a corner of the parking lot, a tiny buzzing sound drowned under the siren.

<There is a new player. Be aware of his swordsmanship and speed.>

“And you let him chase after our target?” Dazai asked his partner. The brunette hid himself in the shadows while following the trail of the Instant Villain.

<He didn’t manage to take the Villain down. Just don’t lose track of the giant walking rock and wait for me.> Chuuya defended their action and turned off the coms.

Dazai sent out his location and continued to tail the Villain from a distance. The Villain was still high on drugs and struggling to fit his huge body through the small alleys. Every step of his was heavy and full of confusion.

*Clank* The sound of metal bouncing off the hardened skin caught the Villain and Dazai’s attention.

The Instant Villain turned around to see a knife lying on the ground. From the dark shadow, another knife cut through the air.

“UWAAH!” The Villain screamed as the sharp blade stabbed into his eye. Hot blood burst out of the newly opened wound.  

“I knew that your eyes wouldn’t be hardened,” A man emerged from the darkness. Following his appearance were two more knives aimed at the Villain's upper body. The guy immediately curled down in pain.

“And the pain and fear would rattle your focus. Leaving you unable to maintain the hardening across the rest of your body.” The man put his hand on the katana’s handle on his back. “But do you know the real root of your terror and agony is?”

Stendhal pulled out the long katana, “You have no faith.”

“You wielded your power without conviction, and that only is an ultimate crime.” The fear of the Villain reflected on Stendhal’s mask as the man continued. “And when crime shapes the man underneath, that is what we call a Villain.”

The light of the moon shone on the blade, which was now completely pulled out of its sheath. Seeing this, the Instant Villain tried to crawl back to escape. The next thing that happened was unexpected (and gross) even to the brunette boy watching this. Stendhal swiped off the blood on the ground and licked it. 

The Villain froze. Terror printed on his face.

“With the power of my blade…” Stendhal raised his katana. “I will eradicate the crime that is your very existence.”

Without any hesitation, the man swung the blade. The katana chopped out one of the arms of the Villain, as well as leaving a deep, long wound cutting through the organs.

“This is your Judgment.” Blood splashed onto the man’s red suit and his mask. Even though Dazai couldn’t see it, he could imagine a maniacal smile on this Stendal guy’s face.

Carefully retracing his steps, Dazai left behind the scene of a messy murder. After making sure that the crazy man couldn’t listen to him, Dazai pressed on his coms.

“Heyyy, my dear Rouge. Unfortunately, the interview was canceled. Why, you may ask?” Dazai gazed back at the dark alley, “Let’s just say that our candidate didn’t make it.”

Chapter Text

In an empty bar, an old TV kept changing the channels by itself. The distorted sound and light emanating from the outdated device were the only lively things in this haunted place.

Finally, the distorted and rusty sound stopped, and the TV’s screen zoomed into a man in a white blouse.

<Dr.*****, thanks for coming to our show today.> The host said.

<The pleasure is mine. Nothing brings me joy more than having a chance to educate everyone about this phenomenon of the century, no, of this millennium.>

<Then let’s get started, shall we?> The host held up a clipboard. <Dr.*****, you’re the leading expert on Meta Ability, which was recently rebranded as ‘Quirk’. Our first question for you is ‘What exactly is Quirk?’>

The doctor explained. <Currently, there are 3 categories to divide Meta Abilities. The first one is Emittier, which allows the user to generate and possibly control certain things or alter existing things around them. For example, someone can change the colors of an object or product fire from their body.>

<The second one is Transformation, which allows the user to temporarily “transform” their body in a variety of manners, from the smallest thing, such as changing their hair length, to changing their entire body to gold.>

<The last one is Heteromorphic or Mutant. This type is the easiest to spot. Mutants typically exhibit a distinct appearance compared to other humans.>

The host nodded along to his explanation, <That’s so fascinating. To think that one day, we can have Superman walk among us in this age… Although there is a certain concern about a group more than others.>

The show then started to project many images of many Mutants with different appearances, and many photos seemed to be taken from crime scenes, in the middle of conflicts that involved the Mutants with non-human appearances. These were clearly selective photos to paint them as the more aggressive side.

<There has been an increased concern about these Heteromorphic. Their appearances have caused many disruption among the normal civilians. How can a human look like animals, plants, or objects? Many have theorized that they are a result of a failed experiment, some say they are being punished by God, and some even call them the spawn of the Devil. What are your thoughts on this?> The host asked.

<I think that there is still so much we don’t know about Meta Abilities. Mutants are fantastic creatures that I’d love to study deeper one day.> The doctor glanced at the photos projected on the wall next to them, like looking at a puzzle, a frog on the dissection tray.

<What a generous view from a scientist’s point of view. Many others and I won't be able to get past their looks to even want to know more about them.> The host continued their interview. <The next question related to the origin of Quirks, ‘What exactly are they? Where did it come from?’>

The doctor smiled widely, his grin full of teeth.

<It— BEEP — BEEP—> The loud censoring sound cut off the man’s sentence. The show then glitched and transferred to another screen.

<The show is cut due to violations of the government's terms. Please change the channel and not engage in any false information delivered by Dr.*****> A robotic voice spoke up, and the screen glitched before turning into the ‘No signal’ TV background.

*Click* The TV turned off completely, and the bar soon drowned in silence.

The printer that Dazai ‘borrowed’ from his mother’s office was working at its maximum speed to keep up with file after file of reports. For three hours, Chuuya had been sorting through hundreds of pages of criminal records from different parts of Tokyo in the past year. 

The desk shook slightly when Dazai put down another thick stack of reports on Chuuya’s current working space. “Here you go, my dear secretary. Check over this pile for me.”

“Call me a secretary again, and we'll see you enjoy having staples decorated on your face.” Chuuya wrinkled their nose as they continued to write down the frequency numbers of criminal activities. “If this is your sick idea of a punishment. I want to argue that you’re the one who left our source of info bleeding to death.”

In this situation, Chuuya missed the resources that the Port Mafia provided. As one of the Double Black, the redhead was too important to waste time on inferior data collection. Their well-trained investigating department usually sorted out this type of job.

“Which wouldn’t have happened if Chibi hadn't let a suspicious psycho killer run away,” Dazai said and pinned a picture of a murder victim on the investigation board. “But there isn’t a point in blaming each other now, isn't there?”

The brunette then stared at another photo of seven corpses of a yakuza gang. They all died the same way, a stroke of a sharp blade cut through multiple important organs, and they either died immediately or bled to death. The horror on their faces after their bodies grew cold was no less beautiful than an artwork in a wax museum. The feelings of helplessness under the blade of a self-claimed Ripper were captured perfectly despite the low quality of the photo.

“I’m done.” Chuuya held up their final papers. 

Dazai had asked them to create line graphs to show the up and down percentages of the criminal activities in different areas. Chuuya didn’t know why the brunette wanted this or if this was even related to their cases, but the redhead knew better than to question Dazai’s decision. In their experience dealing with the scheming bastard, things would click eventually.

“Finally! I’ve started to think that I should fire you for such a slow performance. Then again, it would be unfair since you’re a slug.” Dazai received the papers and started to pin them in different places on the board.

“No need. If I have a stinky Mackerel as my boss. I would quit myself.” 

“But you didn’t~ fufu,” Dazai smirked with total disgrace. He was right, though. Chuuya hadn’t quit back then, and they wouldn’t quit now. Only God knew why the ginger stuck around after literally two lifetimes.

The brunette finished arranging the investigation board before asking his partner, “Tell me, Chuuya. What did you find out after sorting through all that boring paperwork?”

Chuuya was resting their chin on the desk, “The crime rate is normal for big cities… However, there was an unusual decrease in crimes.”

The redhead stood up and pointed at a graph that they had made, “The criminal rates were steady until…” Chuuya’s finger followed the line and then dropped down to the lowest point on the graph. “They took a huge dip, and this happened with multiple different district cities. It didn’t all happen at the same time, but it was a repeated scenario.”

Chuuya’s eyes landed on the crime scene’s photos, “I’ll take a wild guess that our new ‘Vigilante’ friend, Stendhal, has something to do with this.”

Dazai nodded, “I mean it’s pretty obvious. You could see that the crime rate dropped right after a certain number of Villains were found dead. And they all died the same way. Having signs of being paralyzed before being put down by a cutting instrument.”

“So he’s one of those types of punishers? I still don’t get why we have to waste time investigating him if he isn't involved with the Trigger case.” Chuuya asked their partner. Sure, it sucked that they couldn’t have information from that Instant Villain, but they could easily find another one.

Chuuya continued, pointing out, “Sure, it sucks that those criminals were killed without a fair trial. But the police are probably hunting him down as we’re talking. This guy doesn't even bother to hide his dirty work.” 

Stendhal had used the same method of killing, and the bodies were out in the open for everyone to find. He obviously wanted to make an expression and send a message, but those tactics would only make him easier to get caught.

“Usually that would be the case. However, this is when things got interesting.” Dazai handed Chuuya a folder. “I have sorted out all the possible murders that involved Stendhal. There are 42 cases and 63 victims in total that we know of.”

“Despite all of the obvious evidence and the number of victims. There still isn’t a single wanted poster. No warden. No suspect was arrested. No news report. And only the bare minimum of investigation.” Dazai continued and signaled Chuuya to read the paper. 

The redhead frowned as they looked through the investigative report of these cases. The report stated many motives for these homicides, such as internal turmoil, gang wars, criminal conflicts, and so on, but didn’t mention any possibility of planned murder. The police were trying very hard to paint these planned homicides as the unfortunate result of spontaneous Villains’ actions and not the fact that there was a serial killer on the loose.

“What the fuck? I know that those police are useless, but they couldn’t be that incompetent. Come on! The same killing method, the same period of time, and in the same area? And more than forty cases? Even a toddler can connect the dots.” The more Chuuya read, the more confusion they got. Something was deeply wrong, and the redhead felt sick thinking about it.

“... No, it isn’t that they couldn’t connect the dots,” Chuuya said to themselves as they finally realized.

Dazai clapped his hands, “Ding ding ding, we got a winner! An adorable one too!” The brunette tried to pinch Chuuya’s cheek, but the redhead slapped his hand off.

“Stop joking! This is serious. You seriously are implying that-”

“That the government is letting a rampage murderer go on purpose?” Dazai finished their sentence. “Or that someone from the high-up thought that it's a brilliant idea to use a serial killer to control and lower the crime rate.”

Chuuya made an uneasy face and didn’t comment on that. Because all the murdered victims were criminals, the report also included their criminal records. The committed crimes were different for each person, and the crime levels could be something like armed robbery to murder suspects. Stendhal didn’t seem to think there were differences between these people though, he treated them all equally as he slaughtered them.

“Those hypocritical assholes. ” Chuuya finally said.

“Who? Stendhal or the government?” Dazai asked.

“Both,” Chuuya gritted their teeth. Turning to the end of the folder was the file of the Instant Villain with the hardened Quirk that had been killed by Stendhal the other day. That guy had been a constant drug addict, in and out of rehab, and was found guilty of many robberies, property damage, and public violence.

Dazai put his head on the ginger’s shoulders as they read the file, “I mean, don’t you think that is the right decision? To get rid of the trash that is rotting the society?”

“Not like this. I agree that the justice system is faulty, but there is a reason why it exists. Not even crimes need to be punished by death. And you definitely can’t let a psychopath decide on that. ” Chuuya reasoned.

“Shouldn’t let a psychopath decide who gets to live and to die, you said?” Dazai repeated the words in a mocking tone that made Chuuya want to punch him. “It’s so strange of Chibi to be pissed off by this. These are nothing compared to what we have done.”

Chuuya snapped back, “So what? Isn't this society that worships heroism better? They can’t parade around and act like everything is sunshine and rainbows when they do these things behind people’s backs.” The redhead pushed Dazai’s head off their shoulders.

Dazai stepped back and shrugged, “It works, doesn’t it? For now, though.” The dropping crime rate after Stendhal’s appearance was an undeniable result, but it was only a matter of time until the rabid dog turned around and bit them.

Chuuya was running out of patience with Dazai’s attitude, “Why are you keeping opposite me today? It's annoying.” The redhead's face flushed red with anger, and they made a grumpy noise in their throat.

Dazai loved Chuuya’s frustrated face, that’s for sure, but he was more curious about their opinion on this topic. “Do you think that Stendhal is doing the right thing?”

The redhead signed heavily before answering, “You already know my thoughts on those justice seekers. They start with so-called noble intentions. However, the moment ‘justice’ gets into their head, and before you know it, they run around chopping the hands of shoplifters.”

Dazai hummed, “Fair point. A mixing of righteousness with bloodthirsty isn't exactly something I would serve for a mentally unstable person.”

*Thump* Chuuya flopped down on the other’s bed, “Uhh! Why are we discussing this anyway?! Does this Stendhal even involve the Trigger case? Or you’re interested in doing a useless side quest?” Grumpily grabbing a plushie shaped like a mackerel, Chuuya used it as a temporary body pillow.

Dazai glanced at the stupid googly eyes of the plushie and took a deep breath to stop himself from jumping in for a cuddle session.

“Silly Slug, obviously there's a relation. There is a high chance that Stendhal stays in the same area for a certain time, which means that he would continue to hunt down the Instant Villains.”

“So, should we stop him? We still haven’t gotten any information from the other Villains.” Chuuya asked.

“No. Why would we care about the lives of those people? Even their government gave up on them.” Dazai said as he carelessly threw the folder of the murdered victims. “We just need to get to the Instant Villains before Stendhal.”

Dazai tapped on his chin, “However, something is bothering me about this situation, though. Why now? Why the Instant Villains? A coincidence?... Or is he following someone’s order?” The brunette started rambling.

Chuuya yawned. The redhead hugged the mackerel plushie closer to their chest and felt their eyelids getting heavier.

“-nd this guy went missing - Hey! Do you seriously take a nap when your master is talking? Bad dog!” Despite the nagging, Dazai made sure to keep his voice down so as not to wake the other.

“Chuuya should be lucky that they have such a generous owner as me.” The brunette mumbled as he crawled onto the bed, yanked out the plushie, threw it on the ground, and successfully reclaimed his position in Chuuya’s arms.

If the Mackerel plushie could have spoken, it would have loudly pointed out Dazai’s shamelessness. Instead, it just lay on the cold ground with those silly eyes.

“You should see him, Master. That Stendhal guy was just the coolest! Maybe I should carry a katana around, too.” 

Koichi pretended to swing a ladle around to mimic the sword movement. The young Vigilante was telling his teacher about the event that happened during the last patrol, and the topic of the new Vigilante was the first thing to be brought up.

“You’re so easily influenced, huh.” Pop Step said to him.

On the other side of the room, the Double Black was oddly quiet about this topic. There wasn’t a reason to tell the rest of the group about their investigation on Stendhal because the Vigilantes weren’t the target. As long as it stayed that way, there was no need to destroy their little bubble of pure heart justice.

“Don’t carry a sword if you can’t use it. You’ll end up hurting yourself and others.” Chuuya told the college student. Maybe the redhead should warn Koichi to stay away from the man, but that would lead to the whys and hows, and they didn’t want to answer those questions.

Koichi stopped swinging the kitchen tool, “Eh, you’re probably right. Sorry, I just got excited to work with another local Vigilante.” 

He then folded his arms together and smiled happily, “It’s so great to meet all these people with a strong sense of justice. Hopefully, we can keep bringing together more of these admirable hero types.” Koichi pumped up his fist, “I’m doing my best too.”

Knuckle Duster took a gulp from his can of beer and burped loudly, “Maybe, but guys who use ‘justice’ as an excuse to pick fights are nothing but trouble. Dangerous, even. That’s just common sense.”

“Eh?... Is it common sense?” Koichi stared at his teacher. “... Aren’t you one of the dangerous people in your words?”

“My my~ Such wisdom from a man carrying metal knuckles in public,” Dazai said while still gluing his eyes on the game on the phone.

“Hmm? If you brats have something to say, speak up.” The old man said before finishing the whole can of beer.

“Why do you guys even take this old fart seriously?” Pop Step gestured at the old man’s sloppy appearance. 

Chuuya shrugged, “He got a point. No matter their motives, these types of people are dangerous.” 

It was left unsaid, but those people also included Knuckle Duster and the Double Black. Despite their somewhat friendly alliance with each other, they all had their own reason to be here. Dazai and Chuuya held a different set of cards and wouldn’t mind using the Vigilantes for their benefit.

The only ones who didn't understand this dynamic were Koichi and Pop Step, as they didn’t take this whole Trigger thing that seriously. In fact, they treated this group like an after-school club with a bunch of weirdos.

The redhead felt Dazai’s tap on their shoulders. A glance at the brunette and Chuuya understood that it was time.

“Okay, it’s nice to see everyone and all, but we need to visit a friend today. The poor guy landed himself in the hospital.” Dazai stood up and waved to the others.

Before leaving the apartment with Chuuya in tow, the brunette gave the young Vigilante a final piece of advice. “Hey Koichi, when people bring a knife with them, that means they have the intention to use it. Remember that.”

The Naruhina hospital was a massive building complex. The smell of disinfectants lingered in the air, mixing with human body fluid, made Dazai want to grab a nearby bottle of pills and choke on them.

Unfortunately, his beloved guard dog wouldn’t appreciate that, and the chance he ended up with a broken bone was way too high for his liking.

Dazai walked through the hallway of the hospital with a small bouquet in his hand. Chuuya walked on his left and looked bored while the nurses smiled at both of them. From the outsider’s perspective, they looked like two good kids visiting a friend or family member.

The duo stopped at a room for long-staying patients.

“Mr. Tokage! How many times have I said it? No smoking in the hospital! I will confiscate this!” A female voice echoed from the room, and a nurse walked out with a frown.

Dazai waited for the nurse to turn down the hallway before entering the room. There was currently only one patient in there, and the camera from the hallway was positioned in a way that it couldn’t record anything inside the room.

“Umm… Hi, can I help you?” The patient asked them. Lying on the bed was a guy with a mutant Quirk. He had the appearance of a lizard and was wearing a hospital jumpsuit.

Dazai brought out his charming smile, “Of course you can. Although I’m actually hurt, have you forgotten our wonderful time together, Mister Gecko?”

Tokage Rapt was confused, but his eyes landed on the small kid with red hair next to the boy. The one brown and one blue eyes jolted his memory about getting hit in the face, being grabbed by a giant, and being thrown into the building. Rapt then realized these two were the kids who beat the shit out of them when he and his friends were caught harassing Pop Step.

Rapt scrambled back to reach the emergency call button. However, the lizard man was pressed into the bed by an invisible force.

Chuuya lifted their finger, touching the guy’s back, and stepped aside for Dazai to start his show.

“Why the hurry? We have all the time in the world.” The brunette sat at the nearest chair in Rapt’s view. Dazai played around with a flower in the bouquet as if he didn’t have someone being pinned down by heavy gravity in front of him.

“Why are you here?! Is it because of the pink-haired girl and the guy who wore the All Might hoodie?! Look! I’m sorry about it, okay?!” The lizard guy tried to struggle, but it was as if there were hundreds of weights pressing down on him. “It was wrong of me!”

Dazai found a vase on the table and was in the middle of the process of placing the bouquet in the vase. “Hum? Oh, that. It wasn’t nice of you and the other thugs to gang up on people. However, I believe that karma got you for that.”

“It must be suck to be thrown around like a toy, huh?” The brunette gestured at the cast of the lizard guy. 

“Multiple broken bones, collapsed lungs, internal bleeding? It’s a miracle that you don’t look like a mummy right now, it must be because of the lizard Quirk, right?... Hypothetically speaking, if your limb were chopped off, would it grow back?” Dazai asked with a huge grin. Combining that with his empty eyes created an uncanny feeling that made everyone feel extremely uncomfortable.

“What?! NO! SOMEONE HEL-” The sudden gravity increase stopped Rapt’s yelling. The lizard guy was struggling to breathe, and Dazai was counting every second of his suffering.

When the guy’s scale face was turning blue, Dazai snapped his fingers, and Chuuya reduced the weight off him.

“Ack-Hah- ha…*Cough*...” Rapt gasped for air as he felt his lungs burning.

“Excuse for the rough treatment, but we should really get to the main reason for this visit.” Dazai sat back in the chair. “Tell me about the drug that you and your friends used that day.”

“Drug... You mean the Trigger?” 

“Aren’t you a bright guy? Yes, Trigger - the one that boosts your Quirks. How did you street-level thugs get your hands on it?” Dazai repeated the question.

“I don’t know, man. Someone just gave it to us.” Rapt said.

On the other side of the bed, Chuuya rolled their eyes. This was why they hated low-level thugs. They barely knew anything useful, and you had to work to scrape for the tiniest information.

*Tch*. The redhead clicked their tongue, “Obviously someone gave it to you, but we want to know the exact time, place, and everything you know about the person. Now speak.”

Chuuya finished their sentence with a kick that shook the hospital bed. It was pathetic to see the lizard man whimpering under the glance of a little middle-schooler girl.

Dazai raised his hand to stop his partner’s action. “No need to get all violent. I believe that Mr. Gecko is willing to cooperate if we actually give him a chance.” For a moment, Chuuya thought that Dazai had decided to put up his ‘good cop’ performance.

However, the brunette shattered the illusion of a ‘good cop’ when he took out a pocket knife hidden in the bouquet.

“I mean it would be stupid of him not to take the chance, right?” Dazai waved the sharp blade over the guy’s face. “Your scales look so nice and healthy. I bet these would make a good necklace if you sew them together.”

“Get it away from me! I will speak, alright?!” Rapt shouted desperately, and Dazai put the knife away. The brunette held the knife with one hand and swung it around like a pen for the imitative effect.

The lizard man took a deep breath and told the duo about what had happened. 

“After you guys and that scary old man beat the shit out of us, we stumbled upon a guy on our way home. And no, we never met him before, and he didn’t say his name. The guy just said that he had something for us to get back at you guys.”

“So you decided to use an unknown drug on yourself because you three grown-up men couldn’t beat two kids and a middle-aged man.” Chuuya’s tone dripped with judgment.

“Well- Ugh… I know it sounds stupid, but there have been rumors about the drugs in the area, and we always wanted to try it.” Rapt tried to defend his group’s stupidity, “It felt really good to use it too. I felt an insane boost of power and even grew wings, man. Wings!”

“... But it isn’t worth being thrown into a brick building and nearly getting killed, though.” The lizard sighed out loud. “And definitely isn’t worth the crime record either.”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s sad and all.” Dazai said with fake sympathy, “However, we don’t have time for your self-pity party. Describe the dealer’s appearance. He gave you the Trigger directly, right?”

“Yes, he wore a dark tracksuit, a baseball cap, and had his hair in a ponytail. But it was dark, man. I didn’t see the guy’s face.”

Dazai observed the Mutant. Tokage Rapt was easy to read and didn’t seem to have that much intention of following Villain’s path. To put it in Knuckle Dusters’ words, this guy was nothing more than a youngster who did drugs because it was cool and hip.

“... Can you let me go now? I swear, that’s all I know.” It was ridiculous for a grown man to plead for two kids, but Rapt had a strong feeling that these two were worse than any Villains he had met.

“One last question. Did the dealer even reach out to your group again after that?” Dazai asked.

“No, man. Soga did try to find the man again, but no luck.” Rapt told the duo and expected that to be the end of the integration. He didn’t realize that his final sentence had shifted Double Black’s attention to his friend.

“Soga?” Dazai tried to remember that name from the criminal files. “That’s the one with Spike Quirk, isn’t he? You said that he is looking for the dealer.”

Rapt’s eyes widen as he realizes his fuck-up, “Hah- whatttt? Did I say that?... Um.. I mean- he is - ugh…”

Chuuya signed at his pathetic attempt to cover up. The redhead looked over to Dazai and saw that the brunette shook his head. It seemed like the lizard guy had run out of his use. Therefore, it was time to wrap up before changing the target.

“Enough,” Chuuya said while increasing the gravity on the Mutant to stop his rambling. “Tell us where to find Spiky-haired, and we will let you go.”

Rapt didn’t open his mouth as he was debating whether it was worth it to betray his friends.

“Why are you kids doing this anyway? My friends and I don’t have anything to do with drug dealing. You only waste your time with us.” Rapt settled with pleading with his captors. “I get it, we are delinquents, but Soga isn’t a terrible person. He isn’t a Villain.”

*Snip* A sharp blade stabbed through the bed cover, and a centimeter away from Rapt’s eyeball. 

Dazai’s hand was placed on the knife’s handle as he stared down coldly.

“As much as I admire your loyalty. I don’t think this is the time for it.” Dazai moved his hand and leaned the knife toward the guy’s eye. “We only need to talk to him, and as long as he tells us what we want to know. It would be a ‘nice’ conversation like this one.”

“... Soga said he would meet up with someone near Kichi Street, down the west side of Naruhata, later this evening.” Sweat dropped from Rapt’s forehead and down to the bed sheet.

Dazai stared at the guy’s pupils. The lizard man was doing his best to avoid his void-like brown eyes.

“Great! Isn’t that much easier?” Dazai pulled back the sharp knife and put it in his pocket. 

The brunette stood up and smiled cheerfully, “I guess it’s time for us to go. Have a nice day, Mister Gecko! Get well soon.”

Chuuya released the guy and gave out a last threat, “Don’t even think about telling anyone about this.”

“Huh.” The lizard man laughed dryly, “Won’t dream of it. They won’t trust a Heteromorph with a criminal record anyway.”

Chuuya stopped their step and was about to say back that this wasn’t about that, but Dazai cut them off.

“Rouge, time to go! Or did you actually turn into a slug?” Dazai shouted from the hallway.

“Shut up, asshole!” Chuuya yelled back and stormed outside.

The sun was setting so the duo quickly left the hospital building.

Dazai whispered to his partner, “He lied about the destination. We’re heading to the East.” Chuuya frowned but nodded in understanding.

“A loyal friend indeed.” The redhead commented.

In an alley between the tall buildings of Naruhate. Hide behind the shadow of the glorious light of Hero society. A bee flew through the air and landed on a high school girl’s face. Hachisuke adjusted her eyepatch for a bee worker entering the hive inside her left eye. 

“The target is going to be here any moment now~ Aren’t you excited, Mr. Judgement?” The girl smiled at the man hiding inside a corner of the alley.

“That’s not my name,” The man said while checking his throwing knives. A red mask lay on the side.

“Right, right. It’s ‘Stendhal’. I know.” Hachisuke waved her hand unapologetically.

“That’s not it either.”

“Eh?” The girl tilted her head.

“‘Stendhal’ isn’t a person. ‘He’ has become greater than that. ‘Stendhal’ is the Red of Life, and the Black of Death. ‘He’ is the one who cleaves that divide with a single slash. ‘Stendhal’ is the personification of Judgement.” The man held up the red mask and stared at it like an art piece. “Without this mask on me, I’m nothing more than an ordinary man who chases after the ideals of true Heroism. I would rather you didn’t confuse the two.”

“... Yeesh, you’re obnoxious.” Hachisuke cringed her nose.

“Whatever you say, Mr. Ordinary man. You accepted the deal, and that is all I care about.” The girl said and pulled out some photos. “I have sneaked into the hospital and helped you steal the blood samples of the Abegawa Tenchu yakuza members. In return, I get to choose your next targets.” Hachisuke reminded the man about their agreement. 

“A deal is a deal, but don’t push your luck, Villain. Stendhal will come for your head eventually. The one reason you’re breathing right now is because there’s value in vermin that consumes the flesh of its fellow vermin.”

“Sure, sure. ‘Fight fire with fire.’ I hear ya.” Hachisuke flexed the photos in her hand. “Here’s what we’re doing next. This town in Naruhata has been infected with a bunch of naaasty Villains.”

On her hand were the portrayed photos of the Instant Villains. One of them had a red X mark, and it was the Villain with the hardened Quirk. Next to it were the photos of a lizard Mutant, a spiky-haired guy, and a bald guy.

“Let’s clean up the city! Shall we?” The girl smiled widely.

*Buzzzz* 

Chapter Text

The sun had set hours ago, and a man in his early twenties was walking through a crowded street. He wore a sleeveless leather jacket and had a permanent frown on his face. His spiky hair screamed, ‘I’m a troublemaker,’ and people on the street avoided him as he passed by.

Spiky-haired, or his real name - Soga, was checking on his phone. The last message he received had been from an unknown number. The content was about a news article about the death of multiple gang members and a photo of a recent Instant Villain’s corpse. The unknown person had stated that he and his friends were the next targets, and if he wanted to avoid this fate, they had to go to this location.

Soga turned off his phone as he reached a dark alley. He could still hear the sound of the busy street, but it was unlikely that anyone would give a place like this a check.

“Hellooo~ Soga. Oh? Where are your friends?” A short-haired girl wearing a high school uniform walked toward him.

“They aren’t a part of this,” Soga said with narrow eyes.

“Ehhh? But you gotta let them know, though. Didn’t you read the article? Those yakuza died despite having more people than yours.” The girl flustered her eyes and acted like she actually worried about him, although they had never met before.

“That was so scaary! You guys should team up and fight back!”

“Drop the shitty act. It’s getting on my nerves.” Soga growled at her, “I don’t know who you are or why you have this information but if the killer came to me, I’d take him all by myself.”

The girl - Hachisuke, didn’t care that Soga didn’t believe her, “Oh! I get it. You don’t wanna get your friends involved, ain’t cha?”

“My my, such a wonderful idealism. Fighting to protect others-” The sound of footsteps cut her off.

“Enough of this charade.” Emerging from the shadows was a man in a crimson suit. Soga literally flinched at the smell of blood and the killing intent from the man.

“I’ll cut him down and move to the next one.” Stendhal pulled out the katana on his back.

“Oh~ that is also a wonderful idea.” Hachisuke smiled cheerfully before taking out a few syringes containing a new prototype of Trigger. “Now listen, Soga. If you lose here, your friends, Rapt and Moyuru are goners. Fight for your life, ‘kay?”

*Wham* Sharp objects cutting through the air. Soga activated his Quirk and created spikes on his fist. The spikes cut through the Trigger syringes, leaving broken ones on the ground.

“You think that I’m gonna play your little game?” Soga stomped on the drugs, which made the liquid burst out. “C’mon, you masked freak. I don’t need drugs to take you down. There are enough.” He raised his fist. Three large spikes grew out from his bone.

Hachisuke tilted her head, “... Really? Boring~”

*Buzzz* “Unfortunately, I still need the data, so how about spicing things up?” Hachisuke smirked. In the blink of an eye, coming from behind the girl was a swarm of bees. There was no time to escape, so Soga soon was surrounded by them. The sharp pain of being stung and injected with an unknown drug quickly overwhelmed his nerves.

Hachisuke happily patted Stendhal’s back. “Have fun now, you two.” While leaving, she looked at Soga and threw him a last sentence, “I always knew that you have the potential.”

Soga screamed as his body rapidly changed against his will. His final thought before the Trigger took over completely was the girl’s mocking look. Looking at him like everyone else who only sees his Quirk and sees him as nothing more than a future Villain.

“W-Ah- why are you all looking at me like a-ah MONSTER!!” With the last shout, Soga transformed into an actual feral creature. Spikes coming out from his back, arms, and legs that made him resemble an ugly giant hedgehog. In his eyes, there was pure pain.

“AGGGH!”

“... Hmm?” Koichi turned his head over the loud sound. There was an hour before the regular patrol schedule started but the college student was already in his full ‘The Crawler’ gears. It would take a while for Pop Step or anyone from the Naruhata’s Vigilantes to join in with him, so he was left to investigate the situation alone.

“Someone is screaming from that direction. Better check if they need help.” Koichi mumbled before sliding to a dark space behind the buildings.

There were two figures standing face-to-face when the Crawler arrived at the scene. Not wasting any second, Koichi slipped in while yelling a very cringeworthy line. The younger members in the group had criticized his new opening line, but Koichi had insisted that they couldn’t see his vision.

“Hang on for a sec! I’m the man who just heard a heart-rending cry. The Crawler!!” Koichi shouted proudly. This sudden appearance temporarily stopped the fight between the two figures.

“Wait. Huh? Mr. Stendhal.” The Crawler immediately recognized the man in red. “... And those spikes?” Koichi’s mind jumped back to the scene of a thug who had attacked Pop Step and him in an alley, and another scene when the guy injected Trigger into himself. Judging from the white feral eyes, foaming mouth, and an unusually large body, the guy had probably gotten his hands on more of those drugs.

“Stand aside, Crawler. This Villain is mine to slay.” Stendhal pushed Koichi aside to stop him from blocking his way to the ‘Villain’.

Koichi didn’t seem to take the message literally and scratched his head, “‘Slay’? I mean, the guy’s not the friendliest dude around. And yeah, I guess you could call him a Villain even. However, the Trigger users don’t usually have much control over their behaviors, so we should restrain them and then call the police.”

The Naruhata Vigilantes group had been dealing with Instant Villains for quite a while. After a few first cases, their group had created a few protocols for him to follow. Firstly, the Crawler should stick with deflecting the attack away from civilians and buy time until help arrives. Koichi wasn’t a fighter, and that had been pointed out multiple times by his teacher and the unofficial teaching assistant, Chuuya. Secondly, it was to call the police and inform them about the potential drug use. There have been many cases where Trigger users have really bad reactions to the drugs, so it’s better to let the authorities know to bring medical staff.

Seeing that the Spiky guy still hadn’t attacked them, Koichi decided the best thing to do at the moment was to de-escalate the situation. “We should talk to him first-” 

*SHASH* The sharp sound of the katana cutting through the air and aimed at Spiky guy’s or Soga’s stomach.

Soga had used the spikes on his arm to block some force from the attack, but the sword still left a long and deep wound on his body. The guy screamed painfully, and the spikes on his back rose in defence. Blood leaked out from his wound, and Soga kept stepping back to avoid another attack.

Koichi witnessed the scene in horror. He couldn’t believe that Stendhal was really aiming to kill. Before the Crawler could think clearly, his body was moving on its own. Koichi put his hands on the ground and used his sliding Quirk to stop Stendhal from making his next strike. The Crawler used the lower ground advantage to move in front of Stendhal with the intention of tripping him. 

Stendhal had to jump back to avoid Koichi’s aim at his legs. Koichi used this chance to haul the Instant Villain that was nearly double his size onto his back.

“Ouch ouch! Can you retract some of those spikes?! It’s stabbing my hands.” The Crawler said while trying to drag Soga away. Due to their sizes, this process was too slow, as Stendhal had stood up again and thrown a knife at them.

“AHH!” Koichi felt a sharp pain in his left leg. The Vigilante immediately collapsed under the weight of two people.

“Don’t get in my way, Crawler. This one isn’t worth saving. Villains like him deserve to bleed out, creeping through the darkness.” Stendhal walked to them with heavy steps. His present reeked of coldness and death.

Koichi gritted his teeth, “... Maybe that’s true… But even that…” He adjusted the weight on his back and put his palms back on the ground.

*Voozoom* The Crawler slid away with Soga on his back. They were meters away from a crowded street, and as long as they could get out of this alley, they could ask for help.

“Hmph… Very well.” Stendhad didn’t chase after them. “However, even an act of goodness… becomes wicked in the aid of evil.” The man in red wiped off the blood on the ground and licked it.

“HUH!?” The Crawler stumbled down right away. His body was paralyzed, and he dropped Soga when they were only ten steps away from reaching the main street.

“Body… can’t move?!” Koichi tried to lift a finger but failed.

A shadow was getting closer to them. Stendhal raised his katana, and the moonlight reflected on the bloody blade.

“Your day has come, Villains. Here, crawling in this filth, you will take your final breath under Heaven’s judgement.” The man hiding behind his mask announced their death sentence. “No one will save criminals like you. They won’t notice or care about your fate. No one at all.”

If he could move, Koichi would be shaking like a leaf under the killing intent.

“Wrong!” A shout echoed through the small alley. “Because…!” A kick aimed for Stendhal’s head from behind. The man in red only narrowly avoided being knocked away.

*BAM* A tall figure had swung down from a nearby rooftop and successfully landed in front of the Stendhal, blocking him from the Crawler and Soga.

“I’M HERE!!” The newcomer shouted while raising the metal knuckle on his hand and standing with a wide, feral grin.

“You’re…” Soga struggled to keep his wound from ripping open.

“M-Master,” Koichi called out.

Knuckle Duster didn’t answer his student but instead focused on the man in front of him. “You. You’re that Stendhal, yeah? Seems like you have been ‘looking out’ for my boy here. Should I return the favor?” The older man tightened up his fist.

Stendhal slowly retreated from his form and said. “... Knuckle Duster. The Vigilante of Naruhata. I’ve no quarrel with you. You walked the path of justice in this warped society. We share the same cause-”

“The same? Like the hell we do.” Knuckle Duster cut out the crimson man’s monologue.

The old man pointed at himself, “I’m a badass ally of justice. And you? You’re just a fucking mad slasher.”

“... You refuse to understand? What a shame.” Stendhal ignored the insult.

“Nah, the real shame is that I saw right through you.” Knuckle took out a long metal rope from his cloak and threw it on the ground. The rope created a line between them.

The old man pointed at the katana in Stendhal’s hand, “Your attack requires you to strike first and land the first hit. Therefore, as long as I dodge the first hit, you won’t retreat the sword back in time and will be left with an extremely open form.”

Raising his fists, Knuckle Duster continued. “Therefore, I’ll give you two options. Walking away right now. Or you can cross that line and receive a knuckle sandwich.”

Stendhal calculated the distance between them. The katana gave him a longer attack advantage, but it was less flexible in a closed space. And it was as Knuckle Duster had said, missing the first strike, meaning that the Vigilante would have enough time to land an attack on him.

Stendhal stepped back.

…

Before putting force on his legs to dash forward.

Dazai was humming as he walked through the crowded street. His partner was hopping from one roof to another to cover the high ground. Chuuya landed softly on the crooked buildings elegantly like a cat. Dazai wondered if he could secretly tie a bell around their neck when they sleep. A golden bell with pink ruffles.

A ping sound grabbed his attention. Dazai took out his phone and saw a GPS location sent by his favorite ginger. The brunette slipped out onto the street and headed into the narrow alley network.

The first thing greeting him when he came to the destination was the sound of a heavy impact and a body hitting the ground.

Not too far from Dazai’s position was a figure in a red suit lying on the ground. Blood splashed all over the place and onto the walls. A broken mask fell on his side, and a katana dropped down somewhere in the middle of the alley.

Dazai signaled Chuuya, who was currently on a nearby roof, to stay hidden until he gave out a new order.

On the other end of the street, Koichi slowly had control over his body again. The young Vigilante ignored the ache in his leg and rushed over to check the Instant Villain. After seeing that the wound on the spiky-haired guy was closing up at a very unusual speed, an effect he had seen on Trigger users, Koichi sighed and turned his attention back to the bloody scene.

Knuckle Duster walked to the broken mask and picked up a shattered piece, “Wearing a mask to sink into a role, huh? I’ve seen countless people like this. Hiding behind a mask, then convincing themselves they’re different. That they’re immortal superhumans. Guys like that can be real trouble, since they go charging in, ignoring common sense and safety, but…”

The old man dropped the mask piece, “The moment someone steps up to them, their mask shatters and reveals their fragile self. In the end, they’re still human, who forget that part doesn’t have enough determination in the first place.”

Using the darkness of the corner of the alley to hide himself, Dazai tilted his head away as he accidentally dug his nails too hard into his palms.

“K-koff…” On the ground, the man in red struggled to breathe. His nose was broken after receiving a punch from Knuckle and his face was caked in blood.

“I see,” he whispered with each shallow breath. “I understand now.” 

“!!” The Crawler and Knuckle Duster snapped their heads over the man. However, it was too late. Stendhal hopped on his feet in the blink of an eye, the man leaped through the air and straight to the older Vigilante.

*Klach* The sound of the blades making contact with the metal knuckles shocked the alley. Stendhal swung the only weapon he had left, which was two daggers, and attacked Knuckle Duster.

Stendhal’s movements were sloppy and desperate, but he managed to leave a cut on Knuckle’s right arm. But that was enough.

Stendhal stopped his attack and jumped onto a high window-sill. 

“I kept cutting down the rotten grass, but they kept growing more.” The crimson man said. “I get it now. I should have gone for the rotten root. Those are even more sinful than Villains. Those who lack determination yet still applaud themselves.”

He stopped his words to lick the blood on the blade and paralyze Knuckle Duster.

“Yes, yes… So clear now. My mask, my ignorance, has been stripped away. I’m so grateful for this lesson from an elder.” Blood dripped down his face and down to his crazy ear-to-ear smile. With those final words, he escaped through the roof.

With Knuckle Duster unable to move, Stendhal could easily disappear into the night.

If there wasn't a surprise factor.

Stendhal barely avoided a rock aimed at his head. The adrenaline pumping through his veins kept him conscious to see his new opponent. The cap and the hood on their head covered most of their face, but it was undeniable that this person was a child.

“... The kid among the Vigilante group. Are you here to play Heroes or seek actual justice?” Stendhal seemed to recognize Chuuya from their first meeting.

“Maybe I just hate that you stole my fight from the other day,” Chuuya said with a smug face. Hands in their pockets and were ready to take the guy down.

<Rouge,> A voice spoke to them through the headcom. <Let him go.>

“Huh? But he’s on his last leg.” Chuuya complained to Dazai.

<He is no use to us.> The redhead rolled their eyes and stepped back. The two stared at each other until Stendhal realized that Chuuya no longer wanted to fight him.

The man put back his daggers. “If we meet again someday, I hope you’ll have the correct answer, child,” Stendhal said before leaving them alone on the roof.

“... Crazy bastard,” Chuuya mumbled.

“Yoho! We got your message, Crawler.” Dazai waved his hand with a cheerful attitude. “Whoa. You guys look like you got hit by a truck, but like if the truck had knives sticking out at the front, ya get what I’m saying.”

“Stop yapping nonsense,” Chuuya said while having a bag floating after them. “We bring you some first aid. They are from a convenience store, so don’t expect much.”

The redhead threw the bag to Knuckle Duster, who only had a small cut. The man then proceeded to dump half a bottle of disinfectant on Koichi’s wound despite his screaming.

“Stop yelling, kid. It’s just a scratch. Hey, other brats! Go and help him.” The old man pointed at Soga, who was slowly recovering from the Trigger and turned back into a more human-like form. The guy was leaning on a wall. 

“Don’t order me around, Gramps,” Chuuya said back, but still walked to the guy to check his injury. Due to their experience, the redhead only needed a glance at the wound to know what to do. “You need stitches. We don’t have one here, but Pop Step is coming with a bigger medical aid. I think it has a stapler or something.”

The redhead then quickly wrapped a bandage around the guy’s wound with the help of their brunette partner. Well. Dazai called it ‘help’ but Chuuya would call it ‘annoying patient to the point they would wish the wound would kill them first’.

“Long time no see, Mr. Spiky hair. Are you still doing the usual stuff? Lurking around, harassing people, having a mean girl staring contest with everyone you meet~ The normal stuff, yeah?” Dazai held out a roll of bandage for Chuuya while continuing to talk the ears off the guy.

“What with the grumpy face? You just got out of a life-or-death situation. If it’s me, I would be pissed coming out alive but YOU. You should celebrate.” Soga gazed at Dazai even harder, but the brunette kept a perfect smile on his face.

“Ha… You kids are quite optimistic, huh?” Kochi let out an awkward chuckle. “Hey… Um- I didn’t get your name but are you gonna be okay?” The young Vigilante asked Soga.

“That's scary, but I’m just glad we both came out alive,” Koichi said with a small smile.

*Tch* Soga clicked his tongue and didn’t answer back. Instead, he commented to the Double Black who were nearest to him.

“Does that guy have a screw in his head or something? We almost got killed, and here he’s grinning like it was nothing?”

Chuuya shrugged, “So? Is there a guide to behave after having a chance to see your ancestors?” The redhead didn’t see anything wrong. Back when the Double Black was active in the mafia, Chuuya could use Corruption, and two hours later, they and Dazai would sneak out to play video games and bicker.

“You aren't supposed to laugh after nearly getting killed?” Dazai gasped.

“...” Soga decided to shut his mouth rather than talk to these weirdos.

After 10 minutes, Pop Step came with a bigger medical box. She fussed over Koichi but was hesitant to help the thug who had harassed her the other day. However, with the help of Chuuya, they still finished fixing him up. The pink-haired grumpy was through the whole process, though.

In an abandoned warehouse, a man spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Hah.. ha…” The man struggled to overcome the pain while mumbling to himself. “Power. Speed. Weapons. Strategy… As I’m now… I’m lacking far too much.”

“But my greatest deficiency is…” The man threw up his dagger. “Yes… Determination.”

The high schooler leaning at the door laughed at him. “Hmm… If you ask me. Work, life, whatever is better when it’s interesting. That ‘Determination’ thingy of yours sounds boring. He he.”

“SHUT UP.” Before Hachisuke could lift a finger. The man threw a dagger at her left eye, the one under the medical eyepatch.

*Thumb* Her body fell to the ground, and the man turned back to his business.

Staring at his reflection in the mirror, the man used his last dagger to perform the most unsanitary surgery as he cut off his nose. The fleshly cut nose was then thrown carelessly on the dusty floor.

“Yes. Good. No mask for me… Not anymore…” He dragged his bloody body through the hallway. “My mask cracked. My false face has fallen. Now I finally see the true nature of this world with eyes uncovered. Hah… No truths, no falsehoods, no boundaries…”

With each step he took, a bloody footprint marked the ground. “I’m the faceless ideal… I’ll dye this world red… The blood that flows from me is the proof… It is the path I leave in my wake… A path to serve as a guide for others. The blood stains that never fade.”

The footsteps were leaving the building. From the cold floor, Hachisuke sat up.

“Talking to himself, all cryptic. What a narcissist.” The girl pulled out the throwing dagger. There were multiple bee corpses stuck on the blade as they had been used to block the attack. “Well… He’s sure interesting. But it's too much of a wild card to use now.”

Hachisuke then made a grumpy noise, “At least he didn’t use the sword. It would be a pain to find another flesh bag.”

“Soga, right? Can I ask why you end up meeting a serial killer in the first place?” The brunette boy asked the spiky-haired guy.

Dazai and Chuuya had volunteered to help Soga to the hospital, or at least help the guy go back home. Soga had refused, but with his injury, there wasn’t much he could do against these two annoying kids.

“None of your business.” That was his answer.

“Ever hear of sharing is caring. We’re bandaged buddies now, we have the responsibility to look after one another.” Dazai pointed at his wrapped torso.

“No.”

Dazai signed, “... Fine. Let's be real here. Do you think that you can actually track down the dealers by yourself? I mean look at you.”

Soga stopped his steps, he had never said anything about dealers. Soga turned his face to the brunette kid. Gone was the friendly fake smile. Dazai stared at him coldly. This switch-up was too sudden even for someone who had known these kids for too long. The brunette boy looked at him like he was nothing, a dead object.

“What?” Before Soga could understand his situation, Dazai knelt in the wound on his upper body. Chuuya, who had stayed silent until now, grabbed the guy’s arm and used their Quirk to push him into a nearby alley.

“Ack!” Falling on his butt and feeling his wound reopen, Soga tried to defend himself. Gazing at the kids who had presented themselves as harmless, Soga raised his fists. However, Dazai had seen it coming and stomped his feet on the wound, which stopped Soga from making spikes on his fists.

“You must be wondering how we know that you’re looking for the dealer?” Dazai smiled at the man under his feet. “That doesn’t matter really. The most important thing is that you are gonna tell us everything you know.”

“... If I don’t.”

Chuuya rolled their eyes. “We’re not your enemies. We all have the same target. To track down the Trigger trafficking.” The redhead then turned to their partner. “Maybe we should try having an actual conversation.”

Dazai shrugged, “Old habits die hard.” But he did drop his feet.

Soga still looked at them warily. “What does this have to do with you?”

“Personal reason,” Chuuya said. “Listen, the better you give us what we want, the sooner we’re out of your hair. We know that you aren’t a loyal person with an organization or some shit, so make the wiser choice.”

“Of course, if you refuse. I’ll make you wish that Stendhal had finished you back then.” Dazai added.

“...”

After 15 minutes, the Double Black walked away with a sketch of a short-haired girl in a high school uniform. She was very distinguishable with an eyepatch on her left eye. A bee was drawn next to her.

Soga and Rapt’s words had confirmed the existence of a first dealer, who was a man with a ponytail. And for the second dealer that Soga had met up with today.

“A bee user that can inject drugs into others,” Chuuya repeated what Soga had told them. “We got them.”

“All we have to do now is to track down this insect and lay out a trap.” Dazai grinned. “But it seems like our guest have a couple of opinions on that. Don't you?” He yelled out the question.

The brunette turned his face to a dark corner of a building. Emerging from the shadows was a scary man with a frown on his face.

Chuuya instantly stepped up to block Dazai’s left side. However, the brunette just smiled at the newcomer.

“What with the scary face, old man?”

Knuckle Duster narrowed his eyes at them.

Chapter Text

Near the outskirts of Naruhata district, there was a run-down area filled with empty warehouses. The place had been owned by a foreign company, but after a lawsuit involving abusing workers and tax fraud, the company went bankrupt. Nowadays, the place had been abandoned, with occasional local gangs lurking around.

Knuckle Duster led them to one of the warehouses. It was a two-floor storage building with cracked, grey walls and broken windows. The building blended in perfectly with its haunting surroundings. The only difference between it and the others was the heavy locks on the steel door. As if Knuckle had done it hundreds of times, the old man quickly removed three different locks on the steel door, let the locks fall on the ground carelessly, and stomped into the building.

“Is it where you're gonna murder us and hide the body?” Dazai said, but there wasn’t a hint of worry in his tone. The brunette skipped freely into the darkness with his red-haired partner. Chuuya walked with their hands in their hoodie’s pocket while keeping their mismatched eyes on the back of Knuckle Duster.

*Click* The light turned on, finally showing the Double Black the inside of the warehouse.

The place was a little messy, but arranged for purposes. On their right were multiple shelves with different tools that ranged from normal Vigilante gadgets to questionable firearms. On the left was an investigating section similar to Dazai’s with a string board, a desk, and multiple papers lying around. A dirty couch is placed randomly in the middle of the room. At the back of the storage room were different gym equipment and broken punching bags stacked up in a corner.

“Nice place you have, old man,” Chuuya commented. Everything about this place proved that Knuckle Duster spent a lot of time in this storage and that he took this whole ‘crime fight’ way more seriously than they originally thought. 

“Oh. My. God!” Dazai suddenly shouted. The brunette boy ran to the shelves and pulled out a shotgun. “A Browning shotgun. I miss these.” Under the watching eyes of the other two in the room, Dazai then proceeded to check the shotgun in a very professional way that a middle schooler shouldn’t know.

Dazai opened the chamber and sighed, disappointed, “No shells… Hey, old man, do you think that your dealer can get me a short gun? Don’t worry, I can pay for it.”

Knuckle Duster grunted, “Put that down.” The older man grabbed a chair and sat down. The mask covering his face was taken off, revealing a stern face with a huge scar.

“You brats and I are gonna have a proper talk this time.” Knuckle took out a cigarette and lit it. Chuuya and Dazai each took a seat on a beat-up couch in front of him.

Waiting for someone to start the conversation wasn’t Dazai’s style, as he preferred being in charge of every type of situation. However, he was curious what Knuckle Duster was gonna say.

The old man took a long drag and then crushed the cigarette with one hand. He spoke to the duo with a deep, threatening voice. “Sorry to bust your playtime. But I’m gonna put a stop to your little investigation before you get yourselves killed.”

Dazai nearly laughed out loud, but managed to contain it. The brunette looked at the man amusingly, “If I remember correctly, you’re the one who told us about the Trigger, and for over a month, you haven’t shown any disapproval with us helping the Vigilantes. So what changes now?”

“It couldn’t possibly be because of our treatment of that spiky-haired guy. I have seen you beat criminals into bloody pulps before. Or maybe…” Dazai pulled out the sketch of the bee user. “There is something more about this case than just the drugs.”

The old man had an ugly frown on his face. That, combined with his scar, made him much more intimidating, but that wasn’t enough to scare even a flinch from the Double Black. Dazai still had a teasing smile on his face while Chuuya looked kinda bored with the conversation.

Knuckle Duster grunted annoyingly. “Grr… Fine, I’ll admit it. This whole thing isn't as simple as catching the bad guy and locking them up. I have hidden a lot of things from you kids, but it was for your own good. The true evil behind this won’t hesitate to kill children for their goal, so if you know what is best for you. Stop digging.”

The old man pulled out another cigarette, “If you crave playing Heroes that much, you can continue to go patrol with Koichi and Pop. However, if I find out that you continue your investigation, there will be consequences."

“What exactly are you gonna do? Call our parents?” Chuuya said. That could cause a problem, but they had a master of gaslighting on their side, so it was an empty threat.

“Put that aside. You said that you don’t want kids to get hurt, but you still ask for Koichi’s help. I want to know why you even recruited him to help you with the case if you’re gonna end up keeping him in the dark.” Dazai asked.

“I have personal plans for him, but he won’t be in any actual danger as long as he doesn't sink too deep in this mess. Unlike you two.” Knuckle Duster bit into his cigarette. Dealing with these brats stressed him out so much that he could finish the whole patch in one go.

“You brats think that you can take on anyone with your fancy Quirks. I hate to break it to you, but those won’t hold a shit fighting against things that are beyond your understanding.” The old man said. There was a hint of sadness and regret in his voice.

“I think that you underestimate us. We’re more than our Quirks, and you have seen from everything that we have done to benefit this case.” Dazai pointed out.

“Doesn’t matter! For fuck sake! Consider me begging you two.” Knuckle Duster gritted his teeth, “I can’t let some brats walk to their potential death because of me. I don’t need that in my conscience." He tried to appear scary in front of them, but anyone could tell that he was desperate to try to convince the duo.

Then there was silence on both sides.

Finally, a person broke the tension. Chuuya stood up and walked in front of Knuckle Duster.

“The other day, at Naruhata’s shopping street, multiple people were injected with Trigger against their wills. The result was one of the largest Quirk damage in recent years.” The old man raised his brow as he listened to the ginger. “However, the authorities hadn't come out with a statement about what caused the major destruction. You must have heard about the earthquake, the giant crack, objects being thrown around, buildings collapsing, unusual energy waves…”

Chuuya took a deep breath and admitted, “Those were all me.”

“I was one of the people injected with Trigger and lost entire control of my power. If Dazai wasn’t there to nullify my Quirk in time, I do not doubt that I could level the entire street easily, along with all the people in it.” That was an understatement. Chuuya in Corruption state could destroy the whole city, but the old man didn’t need to know that.   

“I don’t care about your solitary justice-seeking journey. This is no longer just about you. If what we have suspected is true, then the people behind it probably have their eyes on me now. And I refuse to wait around like a sitting duck, watching my back until they decide to dose me with Trigger again.” Chuuya looked straight into Knuckle Duster’s eyes.

“Same as you, I don’t want anyone to die because of me. Plead however you want, but we’re doing this with or without you.” The way Chuuya stated it was undeniable, the Double Black’s final decision. The old Vigilante couldn’t change their mind.

“...” Knuckle Duster didn’t answer them right away; he knitted his hands together and stayed as a thinking statue for a long time. Chuuya retreated to Dazai’s side. The redhead received a displeased look from the boy about their speech, but Chuuya just rolled their eyes.

After quite some time, Knuckle Duster finally spoke up. “Hum… I guess it’s better if I keep an eye on your brats. Fine, I will allow you to join MY case. With few conditions.”

Dazai tapped his leg, “What’re the conditions?”

“You brats have to follow my lead. Every major decision or any questionable investigation of yours has to go through me first. If I said “no,” then you have to drop it.”

“Hum… I can agree to that condition to some degree. But it would have to depend on your reason why we can’t do certain things.” Dazai said.

“Yeah! We aren’t your subordinates. You’re not in the position to order us around.” Chuuya snarked.

“What Chibi means to say is that despite our ages, we’re capable of handling ourselves. You don’t need to be our babysitter.” Seeing the doubt in Knuckle’s eyes, Dazai continued. “Give us some tasks, then you can judge if we’re good enough for ‘your’ case.”

“Ugh… What’s wrong with kids these days?” The old man mumbled. *Tck* “I have a stakeout in a couple of days. If you want to prove yourselves that badly, you can come with me.”

“All right, we’ll be there.” Dazai agreed, “One more thing, though.” Knuckle Duster looked so done with this conversation, but signaled him to go on.

“No more withholding information. We need everything that you know about this case.” Dazai said seriously.

“... I’ll think about it.” As expected, the old man didn’t give in that easily.

“I’ll send the stakeout details through this, so keep it intact.” The Vigilante walked to a drawer and took out a burner phone. He threw it at them, and Chuuya caught it.

“Until I deem that you’re suitable for the job, you brats are going to lay low for now. That means no tracking down the dealers.” He pointed at the sketch of the bee user.

“You’re bossy, aren’t ya?” Dazai said mockingly.

“I’m not gonna let some crazy kids run around unsupervised. Now go home. We’re done here.” The old man shooed them out of the door like they were some stray cats.

“Wait! What about my shortgun?” Dazai said before receiving a door slamming in his face. Knuckle Duster didn’t even pretend that he could tolerate them for any more minutes.

“Rude,” The brunette pouted at the steel door.

“He went through that whole conversation without punching your stupid face. I would say he was being hospitable.” Chuuya said as they walked away from the warehouse to head back home.

Dazai gasped, “Hitting my beautiful face is a war crime that only angry tiny ibby Chihuahua would commit.”

“Shut up! I’ll bite you!”

Thursday 10:23 am

Dad: I got some coupons for a sushi restaurant. Let’s go there on Saturday.

Ask your friend if she wants to go too. I haven’t seen her for a while.

Me: Yay sushi! ⊙▽⊙

And which friend? I’m so popular that I have so many.

Dad: Ha! Nice joke, son. =)

Bring Chuuya to the station with you and the three of us can go to lunch together.

Me: （＞д＜）What was that? You don’t believe me?

Your own son?!!!!

Dad: Oh! So do you actually have other friends that you want to introduce?

Me:

…

… Chibi and I will come over after breakfast.

Naruhata police station was unusually crowded that day. When Chuuya and Dazai arrived, there were at least eight non-police cars in the parking lot. More policemen were guarding the front door than normal, and a lot of people, who weren't in uniform, were walking in and out of the police building.

“What is going on here?” Chuuya asked. But the brunette only gave them a shrug.

The duo continued heading to the police’s office, where they could meet Dazai’s dad. However, they were stopped by a tall, muscled man with spiky red hair after they entered the lobby. The man’s hair was a deep maroon red, unlike Chuuya’s orange flame. He scowled at them with an intent gaze.

“What are you two doing here? This isn’t a place for kids.” He asked. His unfriendly voice was threatening to kick them out of the building.

Dazai tilted his head, “Aren't police stations open to the public? I believe that we have the full right to be here.”

“Then you must have something to report, right? It’s better not to be an insignificant crime like childish bullying. The police are inadequate, but even they shouldn’t spare time for those useless matters.” The man said coldly. His arrogance was getting on Chuuya’s nerves, but before the redhead could start swearing, their partner spoke up.

“Don’t worry, sir. In fact, we’re here to report a harassment case.” Dazai smiled cheerfully at the man. “A suspicious red-haired man with a resting bitch face was harassing us, and right now he is trying to stop us from reaching the police.”

“Hah?! What did you call me?” The man shouted. This action attracted the attention of others at the station. While Dazai continued to piss off the man, Chuuya used this chance to observe the police lobby. The officers were looking at the man nervously, and no one stepped up to stop him from making a fuss. This usually meant that the asshole over here was someone important with high authority.

“Learn to respect your elders. Do you know who I am?” The red-haired man said with gritting teeth.

“A dickhead that antagonizes children? And is losing to the kid if I may say so.” Dazai answered with an innocent tone, which only pissed the guy more.

The man was smoking with anger, literally. There was smoke starting to come out from the man, small sparks of flame flickering on his face. A fire Quirk, perhaps. Took one step closer to the brunette, Chuuya was ready to defend their partner. However, standing in front of a man thrice his size, Dazai didn’t back down; instead, he embraced his inner gremlin.

“Oh my, I didn’t know we had a show today. You'd better hurry up, Mister, before people find out that their smoke machine disappears.”

“WHY YOU LITTLE-”

“Oh my! Isn’t this Endeavor? What’s going on?” A soft voice cut the man’s yelling. Walking toward them was a beautiful woman in a black suit. The woman looked like she was in her late twenties, had her dark hair tied in a bun, and a mole under her left eye. Dazai had never seen her here before, so there must be something going on that so many people came to Naruhata station today.

“And who are these cuties? Do you kids need anything?” It was obvious that the woman wanted to de-escalate the situation.

“A fulfilling suicid- Ouch!” Chuuya stomped on Dazai’s foot. The redhead had had enough of this stupid fight; it was too early for this.

“Be quiet!” Chuuya glanced at him before turning back to the woman. “We’re here for Officer Dazai Daisuke, who is also this idiot’s dad.” They then pointed their thumb at Dazai, who hugged their shoulders and started whining about how mean Chuuya was to him.

“Oh? In that case, can you contact him? Or do you need help with that?” The woman crooked down a bit to meet them eye to eye. She seemed to know how to deal with kids, not that the duo was actual kids.

“Don’t worry about it, Miss.” Dazai stopped his whine to answer the question. At that moment, a man in a police uniform rushed to them.

Daisuke grabbed his son and Chuuya’s shoulders before bowing to the other adults, “I’m so sorry. These kids are here for me, but they’re supposed to head straight to my office and stay there.”

“Trust me, Dad. We’re trying.” Dazai squeezed his eyes at the giant flaming Cheetos.

The man, Endeavor, at last found the upper hand in this petty fight as he started to complain and belittle Dazai’s dad.

“Your son is the most unruly child that I have ever met. I would expect a person working in the legal system to at least know how to educate their kid about law and morals.” The man smirked, “Then again, you aren’t a Hero, so maybe it’s too difficult for you. My kids never talk back to me like that.”

“Do they even talk to you at all?” Dazai asked. Daisuke quickly covered up his son's mouth with one hand.

“I’m more surprised that someone would bear your child willingly.” Chuuya chipped in. Daisuke used his other hand to cover the redhead’s mouth.

Endeavor’s eyes twitched, and it looked like the man was about to explode again. The woman coughed to grab his attention.

*Ahem* “It’s about time for the conference. I believe that the number two Hero has better things to do than argue with kids.”

“URH.” The red-haired man breathed smoke from his nose and stomped off the other side of the building.

“Well. I'd better head to the meeting room too. Nice to meet you, especially such adorable little ones.”

“Thank you, Miss. Midnight.” Daisuke bowed to the woman. She winked at them as she walked away.

Daisuke then led them to his working office, “Come on, kids.”

“Hey Daisuke-san, what’s with those people?” Chuuya asked.

“Yeah, Dad. Why are Heroes here? Don’t they have their own agencies?” Dazai asked. The brunette had been around the police station long enough to know that Heroes were a bunch of egotists who, instead of working together and treating the law enforcement equally. Many Pro Heroes acted as if they were better and required the police to personally present them with the case if they wanted any help.

“Ah. I forgot to tell you, but I only got the news yesterday. Our station is having a conference about those new Villains and has invited a bunch of Pro Heroes to attend.”

Dazai and Chuuya exchanged a look and nodded to each other. They needed to know what the conference was about.

“Are you going to join the conference?” Dazai asked his dad.

“No, it’s about Villains, so only Heroes and a few high-up detectives will participate,” Daisuke said. “We even have a new detective from Musutafu helping us with the case. Oh! He’s over there.”

Daisuke pointed at a man in a formal office suit, who was standing next to a mutant with a cat's appearance.

“His name is Tsukauchi Naomasa, and you will probably see him a lot from now on. Please be respectful to him, Osamu.” Dazai only smiled at his dad’s pleading. The older man sighed for his future self.

“I have to go now. Can you two play nice until my lunch break?”

“Yes, sir!” the duo said at the same time. Fingers crossed behind their backs.

The moment Daisuke was out of sight. Dazai pulled Chuuya down under the working desk.

“Give me your choker,” Dazai ordered them. Chuuya was confused but still took off their choker and handed it over to him.

The brunette unclipped the buckle, revealing a small gap in the leather material. Dazai then pulled out a device that was as small as a penny under Chuuya’s shocking glance.

“Dazai. What’s the fuck is that?... And why is it in my choker?” Chuuya had started calling Dazai by their first name a few years ago, and the only times they reverted to the old habit were when Dazai fucked up something really really badly.

“Eh~ he he.” Dazai chuckled nervously. He knew Chuuya would be angry at him, but they had such a good chance to gather information right now, and he couldn’t let it slip away. “A tracking combined with a listening device?”

“Is that a question?” Chuuya sounded as calm as the sky before a storm. 

“... We need to get inside the meeting room to place the bug.” Avoiding the redhead’s gaze, Dazai shamelessly changed the subject. The brunette raised his head to observe the detective across the room.

Chuuya repressed the urge to strangle their so-called partner. When they got home, the first thing they would do was check their collections of chokers and every corner of their room before Dazai could hide his crime. After that, they would turn this pervert Mackerel into a fish cake.

Dazai ignored the bloodthirsty goddess next to him and focused on the conversation between Tsukauchi Naomasa and the cat police.

“I’m going to get the files from Tanuma Detective now. Can you prepare the drinks for the Heroes, Tamagawa?”

The cat mutant, whose name was Tamagawa, nodded and continued to make coffee from the only machine in the entire station. Dazai had tried the coffee from it and had graded it 3/10 due to the burning taste. There were 12 cups on the table, and Tamagawa was the only police officer around to carry them to the conference.

Dazai smirked and walked toward the cat mutant. The police wrinkled his tiny triangular nose due to the intense smell of the coffee. The cat-man turned his head when he heard footsteps walking toward him.

“Hey, Mister! Do you need help with those?” The brunette boy asked him in a friendly tone. Tamagawa had seen this kid around this station a few times in the past and recognized him as the son of one of the officers. Usually, bringing kids to this type of work was unacceptable, but Naruhata’s station was having a hard time in recent years because it didn’t have enough staff, and people had to work way too many extra hours. Bringing the kid for extra family time couldn’t hurt, hearing that the guy was divorced.

“If you’re fine with it, then sure.” Tamagawa counted the drinks in his head, “I can’t find a tray, so we will need two trips for these.”

“No need.” The ginger kid standing next to them touched the cups, and they started to float into the air.

The cat mutant’s fluffy ears perked up, “Um- nice Quirk, kid. But are you aware that using Quirk in public is a crime?” Despite saying that, Tamagawa only smiled teasingly at them and didn’t even tell Chuuya to stop.

“Are you gonna arrest us?” Dazai tilted his head.

“Oh no, don’t worry. We don’t actually arrest every Quirk using activities in public.” Tamagawa laughed and waved at them to follow him. “It would be a nightmare to try to control all of them so we only interfere if the Quirk activities have the potential to cause harm. The most you’re gonna get for that.” He pointed at the floating cups, “... are some warnings.” He explained to them as they headed to the meeting room.

They stopped at the room with a whiteboard that read ‘Conference on surge of Instant Villains in Naruhata’.

The Double Black immediately had one thought: JACKPOT.

The cat-man entered the room first and placed the two drinks he was holding. Dazai only carried one cup and left the rest for Chuuya. The redhead rolled their eyes at his laziness but ended up using Gravity Manipulation on the remaining nine cups, leaving their hands free.

The brunette nearly slammed the cup in front of a familiar Cheeto. Dazai smiled so suspiciously sweetly at Endeavor that Chuuya would bet that the man wouldn’t even touch the cup, thinking that Dazai had poisoned it.

“Here you go, sir. Enjoy Naruhata police’s specialty.” Dazai said with a full-toothed smile. The number two Hero groaned under his throat but managed not to flip the table.

Chuuya snapped their fingers for dramatic effect. All nine cups of coffee flew onto the main desk and were placed neatly in front of the attendees. 

“Hum. Excellent Quirk control. Is yours some type of Telekinesis?” A blond man, whose suit was made completely out of jean fabric, asked the ginger.

Chuuya turned their head and didn’t answer, but the Hero Midnight from early on assumed that they were just shy.

“Aww~ Don’t be shy, sweetie. Us Heroes can’t be that scary.” The blond Hero chuckled a bit, but luckily dropped the topic of Chuuya’s Quirk.

More than half of the Heroes in this meeting, including that Midnight lady, were wearing casual or formal business clothes, while some wore full Hero costumes. Not that it meant anything to Chuuya since they couldn’t care less about these people. However, there was an exception today.

“Have we met before, kids? You look familiar.” A Hero with long black hair asked. His tired, bloodshot eyes stared at them. Chuuya remembered being tied up by the scarf around his neck and felt their power turning off.

Dazai grabbed the chance to join in their conversation, “Hum… Don’t think so. We were taught not to hang around with weird grown-ups.”

Eraser Head gazed at them suspiciously. The duo pretended not to see it and retreated back to the door.

After they sprinted back to Dazai’s dad's working space, the brunette immediately hopped on the spinning chair. 

*Pap, pap* Dazai papped the extra space on the chair to signal Chuuya to join in with him. As for their teen bodies right now, both of them could share a chair if they didn’t mind a bit of squeezing. The redhead looked annoyed but hopped on away. One of Chuuya’s legs lifted up and put over Dazai’s thigh so that they could lean closer to each other.

The brunette messed around with his phone a bit and then handed Chuuya an earpiece. The redhead once again reminded themselves to punish the Mackerel later for bugging them without permission but now they needed to settle for the greater good.

Mumbling sounds came from the earpiece, and then came a sound of the door closing.

<... Click… Welcome, Top Heroes.>

Chapter Text

Standing at the end of the meeting desk was the only detective officer in Naruhata Station. Tanuma Eizo was a small-framed man in his forties with a hairline receding over the years. Despite his underwhelming appearance, his mind was sharp, and his eyes shone with passion for his job. 

“Welcome, Top Heroes. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to be here.” He nodded to greet the participants. “Ordinarily, we in law enforcement would pay a visit to each of your agencies to discuss this, but there are extenuating circumstances with this incident.”

“Whatever,” Endeavor cut him off. “Are you trying to flaunt how Heroes are part of the legal system? Doesn’t matter to me. Still…” His eyes swept through the room. A few low-ranked Heroes felt nervous under his gaze, while others were already familiar with his attitude.

“You said that every Hero who presented during that Instant Villains breakout was invited, right? So why isn’t he here?” Endeavor folded his arms.

“All Might, you mean? Well, as you know, he’s quite a busy man-”

“HMM?” Endeavor narrowed his eyes on the detective.

“... Pardon me. I didn’t mean to draw a comparison to any of you fine people. But he often has to run off in a hurry when things happen. So it was more difficult to schedule this meeting at a time that would work for him as well as all of you.”

“That makes sense to me.” A Hero with engines on his arms said.

“Agree, just the kind of guy he is.” Midnight nodded.

“Don’t worry about him, though. We’ve sent a representative directly to his agency… Then shall we begin?”

This light turned off, and the presentation screen showed the images of the captured Instant Villains and the damage to Naruhata's shopping street. 

“The other day, a large number of these Instant Villains appeared at the same time and in the same place. At first, we suspected a planned attack, but after the medical checks and testimonies from these ‘Instant Villains’, we believe that they were, in fact, ordinary citizens forcibly injected with a Quirk-boosting drug known as Trigger.”

The denim Hero, Best Jeanist, placed his hands on the desk and asked. “You’re saying that those people we rounded up… weren’t Villains but instead victims?”

“Yes. As hard as it is to hear.” The detective nodded.

“Hum… Fine.” Endeavor spoke up, “Our agencies’ll make hospital visits to the wounded and pay their medical bills. As for the media, just make sure they tread lightly when reporting all this. That should be all, right?”

“Not quite. This confusion between the Villains and citizens creates quite a tricky situation. Going forward, before engaging in battle, we want every Hero to…”

“To do what? Ask the enemy for some IDs right there and then? Foolish.” Endeavor retorted. With fire flickering on his face. “‘Those using Quirks unlawfully are to be viewed as Villains and dealt with as such’. That basic principle ain’t about to change.”

“You left out the rest of the policy, though.” All eyes turned to the man who dared to oppose the number two Hero. Aizawa looked at the fire user with a tired face.

“‘Those suspected of Villainy are to be subdued and have their identities confirmed.’ There are existing policies in place for dealing with gray-zone opponents like these. I propose that we should treat this type of situation with more caution.” The Erasear Head said without breaking eye contact with Endeavor.

Detective Tanuma swiped the sweat on his forehead and tried to ease the tension, “Well… yes, it’s really a complicated problem. Mr. Endeavor’s way isn’t against the law, but we were hoping for a softer, P.R friendly approach.”

Endeavor rumbled, “Public appeal, huh? Try talking to him, then. Our number one, that is.”

“... Um, I’ve spoken with All Might.” A man in a plain suit, who had stayed quiet at the corner of the room, raised his hand.

Tanuma introduced the man. “Ah, yeah, this is Tsukauchi Detective. He was the representative who informed All Might about this situation. Can you tell us what Mr. Might said?” 

“He said, and I will quote: ‘Understood. I’ll have to judge extra carefully going forward. We can’t have Heroes injuring innocent citizens, now can we?’” Tsukauchi read his notes.

“Well, if All Might said that.”

“I guess we will have to be more careful from now on.”

“Yeah, understandable.”

“I mean, it’s All Might’s words.”

Most of the Pro Heroes nodded immediately at All Might’s opinion. The number two Hero was furious that these people were so easily convinced when it came to All Might and not him.

Endeavor stamped his hand on the table, and everyone went quiet again.

“Do you people really think that’s gonna be that simple?” The Fire Hero pointed at the picture of a giant crack in Naruhata’s shopping district. “Could he be able to stop a Quirk like that by being lenient with the Instant Villain?"

“That was one of the largest Villain damage in recent years! It was only thanks to luck that no one got killed, and we managed to arrest all the Villains in time. But next time? Are you gonna start to choose one criminal over the well-being of hundreds of citizens?” Endeavor gazed at everyone in the room, daring them to speak back.

The Heroes looked at each other awkwardly while the Detectives seemed troubled by the situation.

After a minute, Tanuma sighed. “... Then I believe it would be best for each Hero to decide what to do when the situation comes. You’re the professional after all. However, there is something I need to correct…”

“... We didn’t manage to arrest all the Instant Villains in the breakout.” He dropped the bomb on them.

“What?” Endeavor narrowed his eyes at the Detective. Other Heroes started whispering again and appeared confused.

“Let me explain.” Tanuma showed them another slide, which focused on the biggest damage from the breakout. “We have analysed the crack and its surrounding damage. It’s confirmed that it was the center of the unusual energy. The same energy that caused an earthquake with a shock wave reached up to 80 kilometers, as well as the energy that affected the gravity field.”

“We have examined the captured Trigger-users, but none of their Quirks was capable of something like that, even if their powers were multiplied a hundred times.” Tanuma Detective showed a list of Quirks involved with the case. “Therefore, we came to a conclusion.”

“At least one of the people being drugged hasn’t been taken into custody… The most dangerous ones, too.” Eraser Head said, and Tanuma nodded at him.

“Are you sure that they didn’t get mixed up with the injured civilians? Or that they simply  weren't even aware that their Quirk was acting up?” Midnight shared her thoughts.

“That is a possibility, yes. There's a chance that they didn’t understand what they had done. However, I still want to raise awareness that an enhanced dangerous Quirk is being left unsupervised out there. You don’t need to make a priority to search for them, but please keep an eye on any similar Quirk.”

“Whatever. To me, it doesn’t matter if they lose control or not. They’re still ‘Villain’, so don’t expect me to treat them as anything else.” Endeavor groaned.

“... All right. That would be the end of the conference. Thanks everyone, for participating.” Tanuma said and turned off the presentation screen.

-

<Click>

“...”

“How about that? They’re quite slow, don’t you think?” Dazai said as he took off his earpiece.

Chuuya didn’t answer him. One of their hands curled into a fist.

The conference was over, and everyone was free to leave the room. All Heroes intentionally avoided Endeavor as the man stomped off angrily; streams could be seen coming out from his body.

“Aizawa.” 

The Eraser Hero turned to the one who called to him, the R-Rated Hero - Midnight. “Long time no see, Kayama.” He greeted her.

“Yamada couldn’t come?” Midnight asked.

“What am I, his babysitter?” Kayama raised her brow at him. Aizawa sighed, “He’s at the doctor’s. He has a cold.”

“He’s sick? Can’t imagine that a humanoid speaker can have a sore throat… By the way.” Midnight gestured at Aizawa’s black jumpsuit. “That outfit of yours. Are those your pajamas?”

“You realize that one of the reasons we came here to make connections with Top Heroes and for a chance to get scolded by a big agency, right?” She said, “You could've cleaned up a little for the occasion.”

Aizawa continued to walk and ignored her talking, “Thanks for the input. If you’re so interested in giving life lessons, why not become a teacher instead?”

“Oh, I plan to.” Midnight didn’t take offense at his words. “Principal Nezu asked me to, personally. I’ll be starting at U.A. next year. Fufufu~ can you imagine? All those fresh hatchlings waiting for my kind discipline.”

Her face turned dreamy, “Heh~ It’ll be a wonderful experience teaching those youthful spirits. If you ask me, puberty is the best time to wring the frustration and violent outbursts out of them, so that they won’t grow up to be criminals. All that blood, sweat, tears, and-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there… Please never say anything related to body fluids again.” Aizawa cut her off and shook his head, “What a disturbing bit of educational theory of ya.”

Midnight shrugged, “If you’ve got your own idea about education, why not go for the teaching route yourself? Nezu has asked me to introduce more people with an interest in educating the next Hero generation. What do you say?”

“Huh? Where’s this coming from?” Aizawa frowned.

“Well, U.A has all kinds of students from everywhere. So it's good to have a variety of educators.”

Aizawa tried to see if she’s messing with him, “... Hilarious. I-” He didn’t manage to finish his sentence.

*KRASH* The sound of glasses breaking attracted their attention. All the Heroes rushed to the front lobby and found a small mob surrounding the police station’s gate.

The policemen were lining up to block the crowd from entering the station. 

There was a rock lying next to the broken window. It wasn’t hard to guess that an overly passionate protestor was behind it.

“What’s going on?” Aizawa asked a nearby policeman.

“It’s just an unorganized protest. Don’t worry about it, we’re working on disbanding them and rounding up the hostile individuals.” The policeman explained as if this situation had happened before.

“A protest? Are you legally able to stop it? What about the freedoms of assembly?” Midnight asked.

“We are allowed to interfere if the protest turns violent.” The policeman pointed at the broken window, “There are already orders from the high-ups.” 

Another policeman clicked his tongue annoyingly, “This is the second one this month. These people need better things to do than follow those political trends in the West.”

Hearing this, the Heroes were hesitant to interfere. Eraser Head and Midnight walked closer to the broken window to look outside. The protesters were holding signs and T-shirts that stated:

‘Fair housing and job opportunities for every Quirks and non-Quirks!’

‘No more Quirk Discrimination.’

‘Respect my existence or expect my resistance.’

‘Quirkless matters. Heteromorphic matters.’

‘The 6/6 incident. The Great Jeda Purge. Stop erasing history!’

‘60% casualties are Mutants. Coincidence? I think NOT!’

‘...’

There were different phrases, but they all had some type of message related to Quirk Discrimination. This topic had always been presented since the beginning of Quirk, and a few years back, there had been a situation that happened in a foreign country that caused a massive wave of protests around the globe. However, in many Asian countries, including Japan, the wave had been decreasing over the years, and it was rare to see these types of protests in the cities nowadays.

Aizawa observed the protest. It was a small crowd with over 30 Mutants and like a dozen people with human appearances. Surprisingly, the crowd didn’t shout at the police or appear to be violent so the rock-throwing action probably was the work of an individual.

“Did something happen recently in the area?” Aizawa asked the policeman.

The policeman shrugged, “Nothing much besides those new Villains… There were a few accidents with criminals possessing Mutant Quirks, but nothing serious.”

“I don’t know why they think that protesting in front of police stations would gain anything. It isn’t like we are the ones that issue the arrests or cause the casualties.” A policeman said and secretly gazed at the number two Hero. The Japanese police force was heavily restricted from using actual guns and bullets. The only force that was allowed to use Quirks on criminals was the Pro Heroes.

Endeavor was the Pro Hero with the most solved cases, but he’s also the one with the highest number of casualties over the years. The Flame Hero glanced at the protest in a dismissive way.

“I don’t decide who commits crimes. Maybe ‘those people’ should do better.” He said as if the reality were that simple.

“Someone from the pre-Quirk era has said, ‘Crimes are the result of society not meeting people’s needs’. But I doubt you have enough sympathy to care about anything other than your fragile ego.” 

“HUH? Who said that?” Endeavor shouted and quickly searched around for the voice. His eyes landed on the Turbo Hero - Ingenium.

“It wasn’t me! I swear.” He waved both of his hands to deny Endeavor's accusing glances. From behind him, a brown mop of hair popped out and Dazai snickered at the Heroes.

Aizawa rolled his eyes, “This isn't the time or place to pull some pranks, kid. We’re having a serious discussion here.”

“But Mister. Eyebags~ as a citizen. I simply take pride in educating myself on the current state of the world. And what better way than talking with the nation's finest Heroes.” Dazai knitted his hands together and fluttered his big eyes. The brunette didn’t even flinch at the burning-through-head stares from Endeavor.

“Just ignore him,” A redhead walked to them to collect the brunette. “We heard the noises from the office, so we came to check it out.”

“As much as we’re happy to have you here. Both of you should go back to the office and wait there, just to be safe.” Midnight told them while gazing at the outside crowd.

Chuuya nodded at her and dragged Dazai back with them. Both of them only managed to take ten steps before someone pushed through the police’s defence and broke into the building through the front entrance.

The intruder slammed his huge body to push people out of his way until he reached the middle of the lobby. The man had a round head similar to a black bowling ball, and he wore a heavy coat.

“GRRAAHHH! I HAVE ENOUGH OF YOUR PEOPLE IGNORING ME! NOTHING EVER GONNA CHANGE, THEN…” He opened his coat, and there were multiple packs of dynamite taped to his body. The guy’s head wasn’t a bowling ball but instead was a cannonball with a burning fuse. His Quirk was probably something involved with making explosions from his body parts because he then raised his hands, and his fingers turned into dynamite sticks.

“I’M GONNA BLOW MY LID AND TAKE YOU ALL DOWN WITH ME!” Tears streamed down the man’s face as he yelled.

One of the Heroes noticed the man’s Quirk and shouted, “The man has some sort of self-destruction Quirk! Watch out!”

“Ha! He sure picked an unlucky day to storm this place. With all these Pro Heroes around.” Another Hero said, ready to go into action.

However, they should have kept that to themselves. The protestor turned suicidal terrorist noticed the number of Heroes in the lobby, and in his desperation, grabbed the nearest person to him.

“I DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT HEROES! GO AHEAD, AND I’LL BLOW THIS ONE WITH ME!!”

Everyone in the room froze. The situation suddenly became way more complicated, and all the Heroes were terrified to make a wrong move. It was even worse for them as the hostage was one of the very few civilians in the room.

“Hey, it’s rude to grab someone without permission, ya know,” Dazai said while being held up to the ground by his sweatshirt.

Chuuya was a couple of steps away from him, so they avoided being grabbed. The redhead was then quickly being pulled away by the Midnight Hero before they could jump in and kick the cannonball head.

Endeavor had his right arm and face covered in flame, but Aizawa turned his Quirk off.

The underground Hero gazed at him, “Drop the flame. That guy’s a walking bomb with a hostage. Do you want to blow up everyone in this room?”

Chuuya would bet that Endeavor had all the intention to blow up Dazai, along with the cannonball guy. The Gravity Manipulator was being held back by Midnight, and they couldn’t afford to show off their skills or powers, so Dazai was on his own for this. Heck, the bastard was probably being entertained by everything going on.

The Heroes and police looked at each other to decide who would de-escalate the situation. Before they could reach a conclusion, a childish voice spoke up first.

“A suicide bombing? Can’t say I ain’t impressed with your picking.” Dazai said. The grown-ups were sweating, looking at this crazy kid, and gesturing to him to shut up. Obviously, Dazai ignored them.

“Such a flashy way to go out! But~ would this help you achieve your goal?” The bomber flinched and looked down at the boy whom he had taken hostage.

“Think about it. Killing children or innocents doesn't exactly paint you or the protest in a good light. Sure, it would bring you straight to the headlines, but everything your allies worked for would be for nothing. Those haters would have the excuse to oppress your people even more.”

“ Then again maybe you don’t want to think about it. Maybe you just want to die, bringing down everything around you. In that case…” Dazai stopped a bit to stare at the guy’s soul. “Show me.”

 “Show me your determination. Your desire to destroy, to save this society.” Dazai grinned manically. “Prove to me that your life is worthless by making your death mean something.”

The silence after Dazai’s speech was loud. The disturbance of the world through a twelve-year-old’s words shocked everyone to the core and glued them to their spots, unable to move.

Tears stopped running down the cannonball guy’s face, leaving dried tears streaks on his rusty metal head. He looked haunted, staring down at the brunette kid, who looked at him with his empty eyes, waiting for his choice. Taunting him, challenging him about his own existence.

Would his death matter? Would he make a difference? Why did he have to be born with this body and with a self-destruction Quirk? Why do people look at him in fear and disgust? Why? Why? Why????

The bomber dropped the kid, then slammed Dazai to the ground and started choking him. A blue light appeared as the man’s Quirk disappeared, returning his fingers to normal, and the fuse on his head stopped burning down.

The man didn’t notice it, too focused on making the kid stop judging him.

“Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! YOU DON’T FUCKING KNOW ANYTHING, YOU WITH THE HUMAN FACE! AGH!!!” A long scarf was thrown at the bomber and tied him up. Aizawa used the man’s distraction to pull him away from the hostage and threw him in another direction, and at another Hero.

*Pop* Midnight ripped open her blouse’s buttons for the sleepy aroma emerging from her body. The bomber then quickly fell into a deep slumber and was tied up by Best Jeanist Hero.

Dazai slowly stood up by himself and dusted his clothes. “That was intense.” He said calmly.

Eraser Head gazed at the kid and finally recognized him by the bright blue light. “Not hang around with weirdos, my ass.”

The grown-ups in the room stared at him in disbelief, and maybe a bit terrified at this middle-schooler. During the situation, the kid was unwavering, despite being threatened with a human-sized bomb. Many people here had been trained, and they could tell that this kid wasn’t pretending. He didn’t care about the potential of being killed, and he was in total control of the situation with his psychopathic method.

While they were debating whether this was even a kid at all. Dazai finally showed some emotions that fit with his age. The brunette looked panicked and was awkwardly stepping back from a tiny redhead.

“Oi! What the fuck was that, Mackerel?” Chuuya asked him. In Dazai’s eyes, his little chihuahua was more dangerous than any amount of dynamite.

“Chuuya has to be nice to me! I just went through such a traumatic situation.” Dazai said defensively.

“The only one creating trauma here is you.” Chuuya rolled their eyes, “Did you do all that shit to avoid the punishment after what was done with my chokers?”

“... Did it work?”

“Guess,” Chuuya said before tackling Dazai back to the ground and pinning him there.

“AHhh! Save me! I’m being attacked by a giant Slug!” Dazai yelled, but there was a clear playfulness in his tone.

“GET OUT! I need to see my son!” It seemed that Dazai’s dad had come back from his patrol. The man rushed the kids and scoped them off the ground.

“What happened? Did you get hurt?! I ran back as soon as I got the call from others!!” The man shook both the kids like rattles.

Aizawa walked to him, “Your son is fine… physically.” Not sure about the mental thing though. “He’ll need some check-up, but the criminal was captured before he could cause actual damage.”

Daisuke dropped the kids off and hugged his son. Dazai froze for a short moment but relaxed into the hug.

“I’m sorry. I should have been there for you. You must be terrified.” Daisuke patted his son’s back.

“... Yes, I was so terrified that the only thing that could erase such fear in me is high-quality snow crabs.” Dazai said with an even voice.

Chuuya sighed, “You’re making it too obvious that you’re milking this.”

At this point, most of the police force were trying to disband the protest and many the Heroes had gone to their cars waiting. The bomber was still sleeping when they brought him to the cell, so there wasn’t anymore accident.

Midnight walked to Eraser Head after everything was wrapped up.

“So what about my suggestion earlier, Aizawa? The teaching job, I mean?” Midnight asked. Her shirt was still ripped open into a deep cut down to her belly button but she was unbothered. It was quite worrisome knowing that this woman was going to teach high schoolers.

“Me. A teacher. Yeah, right…” Aizawa glanced over the two kids. “Never heard of anything so irrational.”

The underground Hero left her and exited the building.

“Hum~” Midnight thought for a bit, “If you said so.” She then took out her phone and sent a message to Nezu.

“You know what they say. Better ask for forgiveness than permission.” She muttered as she typed out the recommendation letter to the principal of U.A. “Oh! I’m gonna send one for Yamada too. Maybe the two of them finally have the excuse to move in together if they work in the same area.” 

Chapter Text

Dazai refused to take off his bandage for a checkup, so Chuuya had to ask the nurse at the station for an ice pack and towel. They then carefully wrapped the ice pack around Dazai’s neck.

“I should have been the one strangling you.” Chuuya said as they helped Dazai adjust the loose bandage, “You aren’t off the hook that easily.” 

“I don’t know why you’re angry about it. I’m simply a good owner who keeps track of his dog.” Dazai flipped a coin-shaped device in his hand. The brunette had retreated from the bug that had been glued under Endeavor’s cup on the way to the medical room.

Feeling a nerve pop on their forehead, Chuuya hooked their finger into the bandage on the boy’s neck and pulled him down to their eyes’ level.

“Dare to say that again, fucker?” The redhead leaned in and spoke directly to Dazai's ear. “How does putting a listening device on my neck achieve anything, huh?”

Dazai pouted, “That was Chuuya’s fault for not finding out sooner.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Chuuya told him, “I already know you have a terrible hobby of putting trackers on my stuff. But what I don’t get is why the listening device?”

Dazai mumbled under his breath.

“What? Speak up, Mackerel!”

“I said that… Listening to your breathing patterns makes me feel calm.” Dazai avoided Chuuya’s look. It was as if he were ashamed of craving for the only stable thing that he had ever had.

The Double Black’s relationship was strange before and after the reincarnation. Their past had been a huge mess that neither of them had enough courage or sanity to unwrap. Therefore, they pretended. Pretended that their blood wasn’t mafia black, pretended that they hadn’t destroyed everything, and that they weren’t the monsters that people had deemed them to be. This short-term method made both of them walk on eggshells when it came to certain topics.

Dazai remembered the first time Chuuya had hugged him in this world. He didn’t remember the reason; it could have been during one of his episodes, but he remembered the hug clearly. The warmth, the smell, the softness of their skin, their heartbeats, and Dazai felt his mouth watering with an unknown hunger. He hugged back, fingers dug into the small waist, pulled the redhead closer until there was no gap between them. And Chuuya let him do it, again and again. Soon, the hugs and the skin-to-skin contact became the norm for them. Dazai would like to think that Chuuya craved his touch too. 

It had been nice at first, but Dazai found himself getting greedier. He glued himself to Chuuya’s presence, spent night after night beside them, imagined what it would be like to be able to crawl Chuuya’s organs out, and felt their heart beating in his hands, their blood dripping from his lips. This touch, starving of his slowly turned into an obsession, and Dazai was fully aware of it. He couldn’t help it. This new world was too much, too shiny, too naive, so he used to have doubts that someone had trapped his brain in a trashy simulation. Everything was too fake. Everything but Chuuya. 

To Dazai, Chuuya had been a log of wood in the middle of the ocean. They were the only evidence that ‘Dazai Osamu’ was real. Ironically, they were also evidence of Dazai’s failure in the past world. Therefore, Dazai couldn’t lose them. He knew that he was obsessed, but at the same time, he was too afraid to let Chuuya see this side of him. Would their relationship worsen, would Chuuya accept him, or would they find it disgusting, too intimate?

“Osamu, I can hear your brain overheating.” Chuuya snapped the brunette out of his thoughts. “You know you could have asked. It’s not like you didn’t keep a tracker on me back then.” The redhead took the bug from Dazai’s hand.

“Yeah, but… we aren’t in the mafia anymore. We have agreed to be more ‘normal’ and…” Dazai continued to avoid the other’s eyes. “I wasn’t sure if this would affect our current relationship.”

“So your solution was to do it anyway without my permission.” Chuuya raised their eyebrows. “I swear to God. Most of the time, I can’t understand what is going on in that fish head of yours.”

The redhead took off their choker again and put the bug back into the gap between the leather strap. Chuuya adjusted it before putting it back on.

“There. You now have my permission. But in return…” The redhead grabbed Dazai’s neck. The brunette could feel the tightness in his throat.

“I also get to put a tracker on you.” Chuuya’s beautiful eyes searched through Dazai’s body, making him feel a slight shiver in his spine. “But where to put it?” The redhead played with the hem of the bandages.

“I know.” Nails dug into the skin on his jugular vein. “How about implanting one directly to your neck?”

Chuuya smirked teasingly, “Like a filthy animal you are.” 

Dazai stared at them.

Oh.

Whoa.

Okay, Dazai knew that Chuuya was joking; they hated the idea of humans being treated as something lesser. But the way that Chuuya said it out loud felt like the redhead wanted to own him. That Chuuya wanted to mark Dazai as them, the same way Dazai wanted Chuuya as his. Dazai couldn’t deny that it awakened something in him.

“Go ahead. I’m all yours,” Dazai whispered.

“Huh~?” Chuuya hummed quietly. Trying to see if he was joking or not.

Heavy footsteps alerted them that they were still in a public place. Opening the door were Dazai’s dad and the medical staff.

“There isn’t any bleeding and your son said he didn’t have any pain. He’s free to go.” The staff member said before took the first aid from the closet and headed back to the lobby.

“Thank you.” Daisuke bowed to the nurse before waving at the duo. “Come on, kids. It’s kinda late now, but I managed to delay my lunch break so we can still go for sushi.”

On their way to the restaurant, Daisuke asked Dazai at least a dozen times if he was all right. The brunette boy tried to answer the first few but quickly pretended that it was too traumatic to speak about it to shut the man up.

“All right… Feel free to order whatever you want. You kids kinda earned it after today's event.” Daisuke handed both of them the menu. “Also… if Masa asked about what happened today, can you tell her that everything has been under control and no one got hurt?”

“Are you bribing me so that you won’t get into trouble with mom?” Dazai raised his brow, and Daisuke scratched his head.

“... You can order that crab dish you want.”

Dazai squished his eyes. “Add an additional dish of premium sashimi, and we have a deal.”

His dad sighed, “You’re really your mom’s child.”

Sitting next to Dazai, Chuuya observed the exchange in silence. It was always a strange scene seeing Dazai around his new family. There was a certain distance between Dazai and his ‘parents’, but over the years, they did manage to create a somewhat healthy relationship. Most of the time, Dazai could feel relaxed around them, and that alone was an achievement. Chuuya was proud of him for that.

After placing the orders, Dazai excused himself to go to the bathroom. Being left alone with an older and (no offense) but dumber version of Dazai, Chuuya pretended to reread the menu when Daisuke started a conversation with them.

“It’s been a while. How are you and your mother?” He asked.

“We’re fine. My mom was promoted to chief designer recently.”

“That’s great! Send her my congratulations… Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about Osamu?”

Chuuya raised their head to look the man in the eyes, “That’s sudden but sure.”

“What do you think about him?”

“What do I think about him?” The redhead thought for a bit before answering, “He is a stinky mackerel with a narcissistic attitude, an ego bigger than his brain, a smug waste of bandage-”

“Alright, alright! I get it.” Daisuke cut them off. However, Chuuya wasn’t finished. 

The redhead continued, “But most importantly, he is Dazai Osamu, and he is… my partner.” To Chuuya, there was no one like Dazai. From the moment they met, they crashed, they broke, they burned into each other's skins like nobody else. To Chuuya, Dazai forcefully took a large chunk of their life and refused to give it back, and Chuuya let him.

But then that was just them. Chuuya wasn’t sure if Dazai felt the same.

Daisuke blinked at their serious tone and smiled, “Is that so? I’m glad that you’re still so close.”

He continued, “Osamu has always been a little special… different, if you may say. I still wasn’t sure when it began. Maybe after we moved from Osaka, or when Masa and I divorced. But…”

“He changed, and… we weren’t sure how to approach him anymore. But then you came, and he has never been happier.”

Daisuke then coughed before straightening his back, *Ahem* “Osamu can be a bit stubborn, so please be patient with him. I consider you as a part of the family, so if he acts too spoiled, you could tell me.”

Daisuke’s intention was to imply that he would gladly have Chuuya as the future daughter-in-law. But Chuuya heard the phrase ‘Consider as a part of the family’ and assumed a different thing.

“Are you asking me to be a matchmaker for you and my mom?”

The man almost choked on his own breath, “Hah? No!! Of course not! I’m trying to set you… Never mind. Maybe you kids are too young for it.” Daisuke covered his face with both hands.

Chuuya tilted their little head as Dazai finally returned to the table.

“What’s happened?” The dark-haired boy pointed at the middle-aged man curling up in the chair.

Chuuya shrugged.

The lunch was nice. Dazai shared most of his premium salmon with Chuuya while his dad’s whining about it. They then were accompanied to the station by the policeman and were told to get home immediately.

The kids nodded at him, and Daisuke headed back to the station.

While waiting for their train, a young lady with long black hair, wearing glasses, approached them. Following her was a very familiar man holding a camera.

“Hey, are you kids from this Naruhata area?” She asked them, “I’m doing a college thesis on Vigilantes. Do you have time for a short interview? ”

“‘Vigilantes,’ you said?” Dazai repeated the word amusingly and looked over at the cameraman. The cameraman was no other than Koichi, who was basically the face of the Naruhata Vigilantes group. The young Vigilante was in his civilian clothes and was holding an index finger to his mouth to gesture to the brunette boy to shut up.

“Why~ we’d love to.”

“What a coincidence! You two guys are Koichi’s acquaintances?” The woman said excitedly, “Nice to meet you. My name is Tsukauchi Makoto, and I’m Koichi’s senpai from the university.”

Dazai quietly put a pin on the name ‘Tsukauchi’ and said, “Nice to meet you too, Makoto-san. So what is the deal with the ‘Vigilantes’ thesis?”

“And why ask Koichi to help you?” Chuuya said while gazing at the young man, who looked away guiltily. Helping someone research the illegal activities that you participated in wasn’t exactly a smart thing. But then Koichi wasn’t the brightest guy out there.

“If you agree to my interview, I'd be glad to answer you,” Makoto said.

“A businesswoman, I see. Alright.” Dazai agreed with his signature fake smile.

“About Koichi, I helped him with some school work. Coincidentally, I need someone to guide me around the Narahata area, so he’s helping me to return the favor.”

“And my research is actually involved with the creation of the Hero System. More specifically, the defining factors that have separated Heroes from Villains in the eyes of the government back then.”

“Before I explain further, can all of you tell me what separates a Hero and a Villain?” Makoto asked.

“A legal license to cause damage and casualties?” That was Dazai’s answer.

“Breaking the laws?” Chuuya said.

“Eh… Having a mind for justice?” Koichi answered uncertainly.

Makoto nodded at their answers, “Uh huh… Those factors make sense in the present society. However, back when the Quirks were still unacceptable by a large part of society, it was hard to define which Quirk Users were Heroes or Villains based on laws, morals, ethics, or anything like that.”

She continued, “My theory is that the original Hero System was based on public support, or to put it simply, popularity.”

“Huh? That’s how they decided it?” Koichi confused,

“So what? They just decided which Quirks were good based on how the public liked them or not? That sounds stupid.” Chuuya frowned.

Dazai thought for a bit before saying, “Applying popularity-contest side into an actual law system sounds irresponsible and illogical. However, the world back then was struggling to stop different groups from killing each other. By having a small number of Quirk Users, whose powers were largely acceptable, as the face for a new law system, it could help slowly change people’s minds about the newfound powers.”

The young woman was a little stunned by Dazai’s analysis, “Impressive critical thinking, kid! Yes, because people were still afraid of such powers, so the right to use Quirks in public depended on how much trust the public itself placed in the individuals. Even though the system has been updated, nowadays we can still see the influence on modern-day Hero Rankings.”

“But back to Vigilantes, they were what came before Heroes, but slowly disappeared after the official license was introduced. So I want to take a hard look at these Naruhata Vigilantes. Specifically, what do people in the area think about them? I’ve a feeling the answer will tell us something about the foundations of the current Hero system and the superpowered society as a whole.”

This was an interesting topic, Dazai thought. Despite not having much interest in Heroes, the history of how superpowers had shaped the world was worth learning about.

The brunette looked over at his partner and saw Chuuya yawning, looking bored with all the information dumping. Oh well, it was not like both of them had more things to do today.

Makoto turned on her phone record app and pointed at them, “All right. Are you ready for the interview?”

“What is your opinion on the Naruhata Vigilantes, such as the Cruller and the companies?”

“Pfff! The Cruller and the companies!? Sounds like the name of a corny cartoon." Dazai struggled to hold back his laugh. “You know what, it fits him. I saw him sliding around the area on four, looking like a pancake… or maybe a cockroach is more suitable.”

Chuuya snorted, “Come on, give the guy some face… Pff Ha ha ha.”

Standing next to Makoto, Koichi sighed helplessly and muttered to himself, “So mean, you don’t need to praise me, but at least don’t slander me in front of Makoto-senpai.”

“Alright, what about Pop Step?” Makoto asked.

“Does she even count as a vigilante? I’ve only seen her jump around and sing karaoke.” Chuuya said while quietly paying attention to a blob of pink on the rooftop nearby.

Dazai nodded, “Yeah, the only reason you can find is probably that she associates with the Cruller.”

“The Grandpa fist guy?”

“Where do you get these names? Don’t know him.” Chuuya said.

“Nope! He sounds scary~ Chuuya, you have to protect me.” Dazai draped himself over the ginger’s petite body.

“There are also reports about a figure wearing a yellow hoodie. Do you know anything about it?”

“Yellow hoodie? Isn’t that just the top part of the All Might hoodie that Cruller wears?” Dazai tilted his head.

“No clue.” Chuuya shrugged.

In this situation, the Double Black needed to paint themselves as average civilians. Refusing to answer questions would make it seem like they were hiding something, so the most effective way to deflect the doubt was to answer vaguely, acknowledge the existence of the Vigilantes, but act uninterested in the topic.

After their interview, the duo asked if they could tag along, and Makoto agreed. The group of four then walked around the area and continued to the street interview.

It went something like this.

About the Cruller.

“Cruller man’s a little creepy. He is always going around with his head an inch above the ground, don’t you think he peeps up other girl’s skirts?” A woman said.

“Cruller boy returned my wallet to me when I dropped it. What a kind young man. Watching him in action, though, it’s a little…” A housewife said.

“Hmph, Cruller man? So a sketchy guy helps people out, and all of a sudden he’s popular?” An older man said.

About Pop Step.

“The girl started as an idol on the internet, but lately she’s been patrolling the neighborhood too. As her fan, it’s great to see her more often, but I just hope she doesn’t get hurt.” A fan said.

“Pop’s the cutest. I really like her tight outfit.” Some horny high schooler said.

“They call the girl ‘Pop’, huh? She’s got a nice rear end.” A salaryman said. Chuuya made sure to tap on his coffee cup before they left, causing it to drop entirely on his clothes.

“Isn’t it nearly time for her to move on from the amateur singer stage. Relying on exposing skin is no good… Bla bla.” A very passionate idol otaku commented.

About Grandpa fist guy?

“The old dude wandering the street? Scary…” A bystander said.

“Fighting Villains with just your fists…? No way! That’s crazy. Like a movie or something.” A buff guy coming out of the gym said.

“I heard from my cousin, who heard from his friend, who heard from his brother that a guy he knew was beaten to death by Grandpa Fist… What? It’s 100% true.” A thin guy said.

About the yellow hoodie figure?

“Don’t know.”

“Nope, sorry.”

“I think I saw that person once. But that could just be a Hero that I don’t know, they seemed very professional for an illegal one.”

The sun was about to set when Makoto stopped to arrange her data. In conclusion, the public opinions they had…

Cruller: Helpful but creepy.

Pop Step: Some love her, but most only focus on her figure.

Grandpa Fist: Bad news.

Yellow hoodie: No clues.

“A lot of people are calling that one guy creepy…” Koichi couldn’t help but whine a bit.

A few steps away, Chuuya whispered to Dazai, “Remind me to advise Pop to change her outfit, that thing should be burned in the Halloween hell.”

“Speaking of Poppy, mind to go and check why she has been following us?” Dazai said and gazed over a building. Pop Step had been secretly observing them from the high ground. The brunette could guess why she was here, but the girl needed to learn that she was not stealthy.

“Sure, if they ask, tell them I went to the convenience store.” Chuuya walked back and entered an alley. The redhead jumped on the rooftop and approached Pop Step in silence. The pink-haired was mumbling in a frustrated way.

“Stupid Koichi, smiling like an idiot, walking around like her server. What’s great about that woman anyway?”

“So you follow him like a stalker because you are what? Jealous?” Chuuya spoke up, which startled Pop Step.

She jumped up like a rabbit and quickly turned around. The pink-haired left out a breath when she saw a familiar face. “Do you need to jumpscare me? And how did you know that I’m here?”

“You’re wearing a black skin-tight outfit in the daylight.” Even though people didn’t have the habit of looking up, Pop Step was still easily noticed by the former well-trained mafioso.

“Whatever. And I didn’t stalk him! I’m just making sure that he won’t blow our cover, I mean, what was he thinking working with someone to investigate us?” Pop defended her actions.

“It’s not like he knows our true identities. The faces, maybe, but not the full names.” Until now, he still didn’t know Knuckle Duster’s and Pop Step’s names, and the Double Black only gave the group a part of their names. The only full name known in the group was Koichi. Heck, they even had his house address, college name, and Dazai probably had his social number and bank account.

“Still…” Pop Step pouted.

“AH! My laptop!” A scream echoed from the street below. It was Makoto’s; her laptop had been ripped out of her hands. Koichi and Makoto quickly followed him, while Dazai just walked.

The thief skillfully squeezed himself into the crowd using his Quirk. Soon, there was a distance between the runner and the pursuers.

Thanks to the high ground, Pop Step and Chuuya were literally on the heels of the thief.

“Hey, we don’t actually need to stop him, right? With her laptop stolen, she’ll have no choice but to go home empty-handed.” Pop Step said.

“Hum. That’s actually not a bad idea. But…” Chuuya pulled out their phone and read the text.

Mackerel: Mind giving the Cruller a bit of support?  ͡ ° ͜ʖ ͡ – ✧

Chuuya stuck out their tongue annoyingly. They stopped when the thief entered a more spacious road and pulled out a clipper. Aiming at the guy’s back and launching the object with high speed.

The thief was stunned by the pain and dropped the laptop. Koichi was right behind him, managed to slide in, and grabbed the laptop before it hit the ground. With the cost of his face smashed into the ground.

“Thanks for your help, Koichi! And I really appreciate your assistance too!” Makoto said as she collected her laptop. At this moment, Dazai finally caught up with Chuuya by his side.

“I was really hoping to meet the Vigilantes in question, but maybe for the next mission. Seriously, thank you all so much for today.” The young woman then raised her hand for a handshake.

“Oh, right. Last thing. A personal question for you, Koichi.” Makoto said as Koichi grabbed her hand.

“You’re actually the Cruller man, aren’t you?” There was a bit of sparkle that appeared where their hands made contact. Makoto activated her Quirk: Polygraph to check Koichi’s heartbeat to see if he lied or not.

“Eh? No, I’m not.” He said

*Babum* True. Her Quirk announced her.

“Oh? Sorry.” Makoto said, confused due to how she had been so sure.

“I guess that’s all.” She sighed and turned around to shake the other kids’ hands because it would be weird if she only shook one person.

Grabbing the brunette's hand, she jokingly said, “You don’t happen to be a Vigilante?” There was no description of someone like the boy, so it was just a half-hearted question.

“Maybe I am.”

*______________* No heartbeat.

Makoto retreated her hand in surprise. If it wasn’t for the warmth, she would have thought that she had just shaken a corpse.

“It’s a joke, Makoto-san.” The boy smiled at her. His smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“... Right. I guess this is goodbye then.”

The group departed with Makoto, headed back to the station to catch her train, and the kids followed Koichi.

“Say hi to Detective Tsukauchi for me!” Dazai waved his hand.

“Huh?” That was Makoto’s reaction, and she kinda stayed like that until she got home.

Her brother got back home and noticed her troubled state.

“Running into trouble with your thesis?” Naomasa asked his sister.

“Yeah… I mean, I got some data to work for the outline… It's just not the material that I expect… But seriously, I met a very strange kid today.” Makoto said.

Unconsciously, Detective Tsukachi thought about what happened with the hostage at the police station. The dark-haired boy’s words would haunt him for quite a while.

“How coincidental, I also met a very weird kid today.” 

“Hey, are you ever unable to use your Lie Detective Quirk on someone?” Makoto said suddenly.

“Hum? Well, I can think of a few situations.” Naomasa thought of the Eraser Head Hero. “Usually involving Mental Quirks or Quirks that erase other Quirks. Why do you ask?”

“... Nothing.” Makoto thought about the corpse-like hand and the creepy smile of the child.

“Opinions on Cruller man: ‘Creepy’, ‘Don’t get cocky’, ‘Can’t take him seriously’, ‘Good effort’... Aren’t you popular?” Pop Step said while laughing at the data that Makoto sent to Koichi.

“And yours are: ‘Average singing’, ‘Need to show more butt’, ‘Baby got back’,... Yours are even worse.” Koichi said.

“What?!” Pop grabbed the paper in his hand.

“At least they remember your name. I refuse to be called ‘Cruller man’. I’m THE CRAWLER!” Koichi whined as he slapped the paper on the table.

“Serve your right!”

“STOP YELLING! I’m watching TV here.” Knuckle Duster was lying on the ground with a cigarette in his mouth and a beer in his hand.

“How lively.” Dazai sighed as he finished the game round before Chuuya.

“Huh? No, that doesn’t count! I want a rematch.”

“Don’t be a sore loser, Chibi!”

The bicker continued, adding more noise in the apartment. Outside, the night had fallen, the lights outshone the stars, leaving only the moon.

Chapter Text

Chuuya remembered when they were 15 years old. Sometimes Dazai would seek him out when he had lessons with the tutors hired by Kouyou. The brunette would yap about how Chuuya was now his dog and made up the stupidest excuse for Chuuya to follow him. Chuuya would always scream at him to go away, but he gave in every time, letting Dazai lead him away to all kinds of mischievous adventures. 

“This is stupid,” Chuuya said as he followed Dazai to a rocky beach.

Dazai closed his favorite ‘Complete Suicide Manual’ and said, “But you were the one who didn’t want to have another game match. Therefore, we can only settle this bet in a different way.”

“Fuck you! You were the one who cheated!” Chuuya pointed his index finger at him.

“So many accusations yet so little evidence.” Dazai jumped over a big rock.

“I caught you red-handed?!” 

“Sure, you were~ Here is the new game, whoever finds the most beautiful seashell would be the leader in the next mission, and the loser would follow their plan.”

“How do you know that we’re going to have a mission together? I even dare to say that you must already have some shitty plans to embarrass me.”

Dazai faked a gasp, “I would never… It’s just that we need someone tiny enough to fit the princess dress to lure the serial kidnapper out.”

“You bastard! I’m still growing!" Chuuya tried to kick him, but the brunette dodged.

Both teenagers chased around in circles for a good half an hour before starting the game. Chuuya went through like tons of sand and rocks while Dazai strolled carefreely and stood in tall places, telling Chuuya which positions were good for suicide.

“Aha! I found the one! Mackerel, are you done yet?” Chuuya proudly held his seashell. A beautiful abalone shell, an ear-like shape shell with a normal, ugly brown shell on the outside and an inner shell that looks like a rainbow gemstone. The inner shell was covered in a pearl layer, which changed color depending on the light angle.

“Took you long enough.” Dazai walked to him.

“And you didn’t even try. All you did was sit around and be a nuisance.” Chuuya pointed out, “But that means, I’ll win this round easily.”

“Don’t be overconfident, Chibi. Here is mine.” Dazai held out a seashell. It was a shell with the shape of a fan; its color was stunning with blue, purple, and orange. In fact, the shell was painted in a way to mimic the perfect sunset image.

It was a gorgeous shell, but…

“It’s fake,” Chuuya said as he touched the smooth texture of the glass object. “Are you messing with me?” He gazed at the brunette.

“Nope, I’ve never said that the seashell has to be natural,” Dazai smirked and showed his punchable face. 

“Fuck you! Mine is still better anyway.”

“Is it? I mean, it looks nice from a certain angle, but half of it is still ugly.” Dazai flipped the redhead’s seashell to its brown side.

“So what? It’s still a beautiful shell and a more durable one, too. Unlike your glass fake ass shell.”

“My glass shell is flawless from both sides, and it comes in any color or shape that I want. Therefore, it’s better.”

Chuuya rolled his eyes, annoyingly, and grabbed the shell out of Dazai’s hand. He then threw it straight into the faraway shore using his ability. A small shattering sound was drowned under the sound of the ocean waves.

“... You owe me now. That thing cost 1000 yen in the souvenir shop.”

“Your beauty standard comes from a Chinese factory and is sold in a tourist trap store. You here argue with me about what is beautiful or not.” Chuuya folded his arms. “This whole contest is stupid from the beginning, you know that, don't you?”

“Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. So yeah, there is no point in comparing which one is better.” Dazai said and pulled out another fake shell from his pocket. This one had a different color pattern that was similar to the blue ocean wave. He handed it over to Chuuya and took the other’s shell for himself.

“I give you my beautiful shell in exchange for your ugly, smelly one. Ain’t I a wonderful owner?”

Chuuya wanted to yell that he didn’t want anything of his, but decided to pocket the glass shell. *Tck* “I still think mine is way better.”

“Uh huh.” Dazai sat down on a big rock and watched the sea. 

“What is the point of the contest anyway?” Chuuya also sat down next to him.

“... Nothing, but it’s better than sitting and tolerating a bald guy that disrespects you.”

Chuuya blinked, one of his current tutors was a nasty guy with a fragile ego and liked to make nasty comments on his educational background. He didn’t want to report him to Kouyou because that would make it seem that he couldn’t deal with such a small problem himself. Until now, thanks to Dazai’s attempts to drag him out, Chuuya didn’t really have to spend time with the guy that much.

“I can deal with him myself.” Chuuya looked away from the brunette. 

“But why would I let my dog deal with those worms by himself? What would it say about me as the owner?” 

“Hah! Who’s your dog? Bastard!” 

Dazai laughed at his reactions, a rare and small smile unlike his usual ones. The colors of the setting sun lit on the boy’s soft brown eyes and his chocolate hair. Chuuya’s heart suddenly skipped a beat and he quickly turned his head.

“Want to go and terrorize that tutor so that he would quit himself?” Dazai asked and didn't pay attention to Chuuya’s attitude.

“... Sure.”

Their relationship wasn’t the best, and the mafia situation wasn’t exactly ideal. But Chuuya managed to find a bit of comfort in this strange boy.

…

Then things started to change.

…

So abruptly

…

It was as if someone flipped a switch of the world.

…

Something changed in Dazai’s behavior after his 16th birthday. Chuuya couldn’t really describe it but the guy started saying strange things out of nowhere.

“Nee Chuuya! Which one should I choose? A tiger or a rabid dog?”

“Chibi~ Can you win against an American and a Russian? No wait, I'll phrase it better… Can you win against capitalism and communism?” 

“... You would understand, right? Chuuya?”

“Understand what?” The redhead asked.

Dazai didn’t answer, he never did.

At first, Chuuya brushed it off. That guy was always saying weird stuff, and the redhead himself hadn’t had a great year with everything that had happened with the Flags and Verlaine. 

Then one day, Dazai locked himself in his rusty container for a week straight, so Chuuya had to go and check on him.

“Oi Mackerel! Are you still alive?” Chuuya kicked out a trash bag at the entrance. There were papers scattered on the floor and messy handwriting on the walls. The writing was written in code that probably included 20 different alphabets and it covered the entire walls and floor. The inside of the container could only be compared with the room of a patient in a mental asylum. 

“Chuuya… It hurts.” A voice came from the lump of blanket on the bed.

“What? Did you hurt yourself again?” Chuuya moved toward the blanket cocoon and dragged Dazai out.

“My head... It’s too much.” 

“What is too much?” Chuuya asked as he checked Dazai’s wrist and neck. There was no blood on his bandage, so he moved on to the head. No visual injury either.

The redhead asked, “Are you sick, mackerel? Or did you drink some weird med again?”

Dazai didn’t answer but instead pulled Chuuya down to lie next to him. “It hurts so bad, Chibi… I don’t want to go through that feeling.” The brunette muttered incoherent phrases.

“... Dazai, if you don’t tell me, I don’t know how to help you.” Chuuya sighed.

“That feeling… was worse than death. So much pain. I hate it.”

Chuuya waited for him to continue. Dazai seemed to be in some dream state as he was remembering something horrible.

“That feeling of losing someone…”

“Did something happen?” 

“No… not yet, maybe never.” 

The red-haired started to get frustrated, he wasn’t a patient person and hadn’t been taught what to do in this situation. Chuuya knew that Dazai had never shown even a wrinkle when his subordinates died but here he whined because of some hallucination, some dream. How ridiculous!

Chuuya pushed himself up and stood up, but the look on Dazai’s face stopped him from storming out. Broken, overwhelmed, and an unknown fear painted on his face. The red-haired sighed again and adjusted Dazai into a more comfortable position.

“Take a nap, mackerel. You look like shit.” Dazai looked like he hadn’t slept or showered for days. He probably didn’t.

After the brunette closed his eyes, Chuuya stood up and started to clean up the room. After separating the trash and the stuff that looked important, Chuuya went out to get some food that was not canned crab.

“Dazai, I bought seafood porridge,” Chuuya said when he got back.

The floor was messy once again. Dazai had woken up and was desperately scribbling something in a notebook. All the papers Chuuya had gathered once again ended up on the floor, and he was about to yell at him to go back to bed.

“Chuuya, get me an empty barrel.” Dazai suddenly ordered.

That wouldn’t be a hard thing to do, Dazai’s container was surrounded by abandoned shipping merchandise. Still skeptical, Chuuya followed the order and brought an old rusty barrel to the entrance of the container.

Dazai didn’t explain anything and proceeded to put all the paper he had written into the barrel before turning on his lighter and throwing it in. The fire quickly consumed all the paper. Chuuya thought that was it, but Dazai pulled out the book with a red cover and threw it in, too.

“Huh?! Isn’t that your shitty suicide manual that you always read? Why did you throw it in?!” Chuuya nearly shouted.

“I don’t need it anymore,” Dazai responded coldly with no emotion. The fire reflected in his eyes couldn’t outshine the void, the emptiness.

Chuuya stared at him in confusion and didn't know what to say. So he didn’t.

Maybe he should have.

Many years later, Chuuya still wondered if that was the day that the boy he loved died.

And emerged from his corpse was a stranger, an inhuman machine.

Or maybe that the boy had never existed in the first place.

-

In the highest room in Yokohama, Chuuya stood by Dazai’s side. For nearly four years, the Gravity Manipulator played as an overqualified bodyguard, and Chuuya hated every minute of it.

“My decision is final. Don’t overstep again, Chuuya.” His ‘Boss’ spoke with a monotone voice.

The redhead gritted his teeth. Anger boiled in his veins.

“FINE! HAVE IT YOUR WAY!!” He shouted, stormed out of the office with his back turned to the Boss.

How many times had their conversation ended this way? Since the day that Dazai put on the bloody scarf, their relationship had become worse and worse. The brunette controlled everything to an obsessive degree and used everyone like chess pieces to achieve an unknown purpose that hid from even his most loyal executive.

Chuuya hated it, and moreover, he hated that bastard.

“Chuuya, are you having another fight with the boss?” A soft voice called him. Kouyou was standing in the lobby of the building. The interaction between the Boss and the strongest executive was well-known among the other employees and mafioso members, who right now were actively avoiding the angry ability user. At this point, Kouyou was the only one who dared to approach, well, her and a certain blonde French.

“How about joining for a cup of tea? To cool you down.” His old mentor suggested.

Chuuya was about to refuse, but then thought that he hadn’t had a tea session with Kouyou for years because he always rushed back to stay by Dazai’s side.

“... Yeah, I’d love to.” The shorter ginger sighed.

Kouyou’s eyes widened a bit; hadn’t thought that he would agree. She then smiled at him and led him to her office. The room was decorated in traditional Japanese style; instead of a leather couch, there was a low table and floor cushions.

“How have you been?” Kouyou asked as she arranged her ceremony teapot.

“It’s not like you couldn’t guess, ane-san.” Chuuya didn’t mean to be rude, but he couldn’t help it. He hadn’t bothered to hide his distaste with Dazai since the beginning. And judging by the fact that he spent almost every day next to him, there weren’t many things that he could be mad at.

“... It would always come down to him, huh?” Kouyou poured him a cup of hot tea.

“You kids used to be so close.” She sighed as if she remembered a distant time.

“We’re never close.” Chuuya snarked, "And if we did, that bastard had gone and turned himself into an insufferable bitch that nobody could stand.”

Kouyou blew her tea, “Is that what happened? He changed?”

Chuuya stared at his cup of tea, a stream coming out and blocking a bit of his vision. He thought to himself, had Dazai changed? Of course. Changing was a part of human nature, but when it came to Dazai, it had happened in the most unnatural way. Liked flipping a switch; gone was his weird, suicide obsessed partner who liked to bicker with him, and only the Black Wraith remained.

“I really hate it,” Chuuya mumbled.

“If it makes you feel better, I think you have changed, too, Chuuya.”

Yeah, Chuuya himself had changed into a more angry, bitter version of himself. He snapped at the smallest things, became more reckless, and no longer cared much about his subordinates. Nowadays, he kept asking himself, was it still worth it to stay in the Port Mafia. The way Dazai distanced himself from him drove Chuuya crazy, and in return, the redhead also pushed the other and everyone else away.

“Maybe this is how things should happen,” Chuuya said. His head lowered as he accepted this hellish lifestyle. “He and I are gonna be in this circle of hate and tolerance until one of us gets killed.”

“Oh sweetie, it doesn’t have to be.” Kouyou said with a hint of sadness, “Maybe you weren't the same person back then, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t learn to accept the new versions.”

“What to like about this version of him?” 

“I don’t know, you tell me. You wouldn’t stay if you actually hated him.”

‘I stay because I’m a fool. I stay for the memory of someone who no longer exists.’ Chuuya wanted to answer like that but then he remembered the image of Dazai standing alone in the dark room. The brunette looked small and fragile despite being the most fearsome person in Yokohama.

“... I just don’t want to leave him alone.”

Kouyou smiled sadly at him.

“Thanks for the tea, ane-san… and the conversation. But I have to go back to Dazai before another assassination attempt happens.”

“It’s alright. But I wish we could have had this talk before it was too late.”

“What do you mean? We’re talking right now.” Chuuya frowned.

“Oh Chuuya…” Kouyou looked at him with pity.

“This conversation has never happened.” She said, and the world started to distort.

“What?” Chuuya felt himself sinking to the ground. The gravity that he could always control slipped off his fingers,and he fell into darkness.

…

Chuuya dropped down on their bed. The red light disappeared from their body, they must have accidentally activated their Quirk while sleeping.

“Ane-san?!!” Chuuya yelled as they awoke from the dream. Cold sweat covered their back, and their body was still shaking slightly.

It took them a couple of minutes to realize that the whole thing was just a dream. A blending of old memories and imagination. The impression of the dream had started to fade, but Chuuya knew that the conversation with Kouyou had never happened. In the years after Dazai had become the Boss, Chuuya rarely had time to speak with his pseudo-sister because he had basically stuck himself to Dazai’s side.

The redhead wiped their face with both hands, hoping this movement would wake up their brain. The warm body that was next to them the previous night was long gone. On the nightstand, there was a carton of milk and a sandwich from a convenience store. Underneath them was a note. Chuuya lifted the breakfast and read what was written on the paper.

My mom caught some wind about the hostage situation =(( Dad’s suck at lying!! She called and told me to go home immediately and that she wanted to keep an eye on me for at least one day.

Poor Chu-chu will have to spend your Sunday without your beloved master. But I would make up for you later. How about a new collar with pink ruffles ( ˶˘ ³˘)♥︎ Ah~ it will go so well with a maid outfit. It’s a joke, please don’t try to kill me next time we meet.

Ps: I got you a sandwich and some milk. Chibi needs every help so they don't end up like a mushroom in this life.

Chuuya crumpled up the paper with one hand and held it on the floor. The sweat sticking on their face felt disgusting. They walked to the bathroom while peeling off the pajamas and threw them on the floor. It would be a pain to pick up later, but who cared?

The showerhead was turned on, and Chuuya felt the cold water wash away the ache in their souls. The memory of the old lifetime slowly faded in their mind like a dream. The people, the responsibility that they left behind, lingered in the mind like smoke from cigarettes.

Chuuya shook their head from the bittersweet memories and walked out of the shower. They stopped at the sink to wash their face. Water dripped down pale skin, and Chuuya observed the image in the mirror. The difference wasn’t noticeable before they hit puberty, and even back when Chuuya had a male body, they also had feminine features, so they hadn’t noticed the changes. Now Chuuya’s face was becoming a bit less angled, and the shape of their figure had more curves and was softer. It wasn’t a bad thing, Chuuya didn’t see themselves to care about the form of their body as long as they could wear whatever they wanted, could fight, and could be with whoever they wanted.

However, sometimes they wondered if they had changed so much, then what about the old ‘Chuuya’. Should ‘he’ be buried, should they move on from the old self, what about his love for that person?

“Maybe you weren't the same person back then but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t learn to accept the new versions.”

Nakahara Chuuya had changed, and Dazai Osamu had changed. And they both would continue to change every day since the moment they stepped into this world.

Yet that love stayed.

Chuuya wanted to pity themselves; anyone who met Dazai more than once would run away if they knew what was best for them. However, Chuuya was an idiot even after 7 years in old life and another 7 years plus counting in this new life. 

The ginger walked out of the bathroom and opened the drawer containing Dazai’s clothes. They pulled out an old blue sweater and put it on. The soft fabric and the certain smell of detergent embraced their skin as they went back to bed.

“Today is Sunday anyway,” Chuuya mumbled as their head hit the pillow, giving themselves an excuse to be lazy. Too lazy to question these emotions, too tired to grieve the old ghosts.

Sunday 09:45 am

Me: Oh Slug!!

Have you eaten breakfast yet? I promise that I didn’t put anything weird

Maybe… Just kidding~ 

Eat your meal on time, don’t skip, it will hurt your stomach.

Dazai was staring at his phone like it had offended him. An intern, who worked directly under his mom in the news station, noticed this and asked him.

“Is something wrong, kid? Do you need me to call Higashi-san?”

“My dog is still not texting me, such a lazy little thing.”

“Your dog… texts?”

“I mean they ain’t the smartest thing but they should at least know to inform their master.” Dazai complained and showed the intern a photo of Chuuya devouring a hamburger. In the photo, the redhead’s cheeks puffed up like a hamster, cute and a bit messy.

“I don’t think you should call your girlfriend that.”

“Huh huh???? Who would want to date a Chibi?!” Dazai flustered.

The intern looked at the number of the photo, 252 out of 2,331. On the corner was the album’s name: My Puppy❤️ #13.

“... Right,”  The intern then got back to work.

Tired of waiting, Dazai grabbed an old printed newspaper and read to kill time until his mom released him from this unreasonable grounding. Most of the articles revolved around Pro Heroes, as it was the easiest to sell. He flipped through those and was reading some advertisement about a pyramid scheme when Masa told both him and the intern to go with her.

“Come on! We got a front page to write. Osamu, you’re going too.” Rushing down the building, Masa opened the taxi’s door and told them to hurry up. The intern was struggling not to drop his camera while running, and Dazai skipped carefreely after his mom.

“The head chief received a messenger yesterday from an American Hero Agency. They paid a large sum of money for us to write about him and had him on the front page.” Masa explained from the front seat of the taxi, while Dazai and the intern occupied the back.

“The Hero is going to have his Japanese debut in Naruhata today. There is also a video crew ,but they will arrive later.” She continued while arranging the items in her bag. “Osamu, can you arrange the note for me while I’m putting on the mic and body camera?”

Dazai received the bag and asked, “Why Naruhata, Mom? Isn’t it that people usually go for better-paying districts?”

“Usually yes. But this guy’s situation is kinda special. I don’t think he needs the money, more of… good publicity.”

The brunette boy raised his brow and read one of the notes. There was a printed Google result page of the Hero and the list of news related to him.

Found 12,213 results about Captain Celebrity

 

Captain Celebrity and Alex.S supermodel, were photographed in front of a hotel.

His thirteen scandals involving women. All in the span of six months.

 

Captain “Catastrophe” Celebrity is being sued by his wife.

His estranged wife, who is seeking reparations for infidelity, refused to grant an interview. But our trusted source believed that she is preparing for a divorce.

 

Captain Celebrity saved an entire cruise ship in New York Harbor.

The cruise ship has over 5.000 passengers. This achievement brought him up to the top 10 in Hero Ranking.

 

A woman said Captain Celebrity groped her when he rescued her.

The woman named is —, she has filed a lawsuit against the Top Hero.

 

“The Soaring Stallion” of New York City - Captain Celebrity, where is he?

After a year filled with scandals and lawsuits, it seems that the former Top Hero has decided to lay low. However, there has been no activity from him since early April, which made the public wonder what his next move would be.

Dazai whistled, “What a record. So this guy decided to come to another country to escape the paparazzi and hoped that things would die down back home when he got back. Additionally, Naruhata is the perfect place to gain good publicity. Without any Hero Agency, there will be barely any competition in popularity in the area.”

His mom pushed up her glasses and nodded proudly, “You understand it well, son. I know that our usual political discussions will come in handy. But we wouldn’t dig into the scandals or his past behaviors; the job today is to write about the debut and how it would improve the relationship between the two countries. Therefore, we need to paint this Captain Celerity in a good light.”

“Lying for the greater good, of course it is,” Dazai muttered as he finished arranging the notes.

They arrived at a famous walking street in Naruhata. The plan was to meet the Hero and have an interview with him while he was on patrol, but Masa received a phone call right after they were dropped off by the taxi.

The female journalist clicked her tongue and told them, “The video crew is having some trouble, so I have to check on them. Osamu, stay here with… um.”

“My name i-” The intern’s words got cut off by a ping.

Masa checked her phone again and became more annoyed, “Sure, whatever, just watch my son until I get back. Got it.” The woman then ran off in another direction, leaving the intern alone with Dazai.

“Guess it's just you and me, kid.” The intern adjusted the camera strap on his neck for one second and turned to the teenager standing next to him.

Nothing.

The boy was gone.

“...” The intern blinked a couple of times, praying that the next time he opened his eyes, the boy would stand there. This method obviously didn’t work, so it was time to move on to the next step.

Panic.

The intern felt that his life force slowly dripped out of him as he ran around the crowd trying to find his boss’s kid.

Even from a distance, Dazai could see somebody with a flying Quirk floating at a corner of the street. The guy wore a tight blue suit and had blond hair, matching perfectly with the description of an American Hero. Dazai wanted to say that he felt bad for leaving the intern alone but it would be a lie.

Dazai swung a name tag and approached the man.

Captain Celebrity had stopped a motorbike that was running recklessly and was currently chatting with someone on the pavement, a very familiar person wearing an All Might hoodie.

Holding a motorbike and the illegal racer, the Hero told the Crawler.

“Trying to stop a speeder? Ha ha ha, quite a brave boy, aren’t you? But you ought to let the Pros handle the dangerous stuff!” The Hero flashed his arrogant smile.

“Ah. Right, sorry, and thank you… Who are you, though?” The Crawler smiled awkwardly and asked him.

“Eh? What? You don’t know who I am? Inconceivable!” Captain Celebrity dropped the motorbike and the rider carelessly on the side before making a dramatic pose.

“I’m the United States’ Top-Ranked Hero. Captain Celebrity!” The Hero then took out a marker and signed on Koichi’s All Might hoodie without his permission.

“Here’s my autograph. Feel free to brag about it on social media!” 

Koichi couldn’t stop him in time, “Hey! This is my exclusive All Might hoodie.”

“Oh, give it a rest. My signature is far more valuable. And really? All Might? He’s got no style. The way I see it, he’s nothing more than muscle brained oaf.”

“Is this a pot and kettle situation?” A dark-haired boy asked as he walked to them. Making eye contact with the Crawler, Dazai made a zipping-the-mouth motion to signal Koichi not to expose him. The young Vigilante didn’t understand but he knew better than to question the kid's weird tactics.

“Ah, are you here for an autograph too, boy? Let’s hurry up, I have more important stuff to do.” The Hero didn’t understand the mocking and was busy checking his smile in a nearby window.

“Actually, I’m from the news station.” Dazai smiled and held the name tag that he had stolen from the intern.

“News station? I always have time for the news, but there is only one of you? And you seem quite young too.” The Hero observed him.

“I’m just an intern, Mr. Captain. In Japan, it’s normal to start at this age. The rest of the crew is still preparing, so they asked me to ask you a few things first.” Dazai smiled sweetly at the Hero. 

The reason he approached the Hero, besides curiosity, was that he needed to know if this Hero would become an obstacle to the Trigger investigation. In this race of tracking down the dealers, the local law enforcement and Pro Heroes presented as a problem to him with the fact that they could start to go after the Vigilante activities at any time. Until now, they were still too passive and didn’t have enough people to care about the Vigilantes, but that could change if there was another local Hero in their force. Dazai had to make sure whether this man would become a threat to the investigation and get rid of him first in that case.

“Go ahead, kid. If you want to document, make sure to capture my good angle.”

Dazai faked using his phone to record, “Alright, the first question, how will you cooperate with the local police force to stop the Villains? And will your agency participate in criminal cases’ investigations in Japan?”

“Well, we will have to inform the local government first to stop the Villains, but investigate? Why would I do something like that? Those are the jobs for the background characters. My job is to fight in the spotlight, why would I spend time doing something that my awesomeness can’t be recorded?”

So this guy was a narcissist who only cared about his fame. Should have guessed it from the name, but that meant that this idiot would not get in their way. The police wouldn’t ask a foreigner to participate in a local case unless the Hero actively asked to join.

After a couple of fake questions, Dazai let the guy go and pointed him to the meeting spot of the interview, where the camera crew was waiting.

“I can’t stand that guy,” Koichi said to him after the Hero flew away.

Dazai had to agree. This guy was a combination of everything that he hated about the Hero System. “But you like All Might, aren’t those two the same?” The brunette couldn’t help but point out.

“What? All Might is nothing like him! He is humble, kind, and always puts people’s lives first.” Koichi defended his idol.

“Is he actually that much different?” Dazai said and gazed over a billboard advertising a snack featuring All Might’s image on the package. Everywhere, you could easily find products advertised by the Pro Heroes; you couldn’t help but wonder what their actual jobs were.

“Um… well, All Might helped reduce the Japanese crime rate to below 6%.”

“Sure, that’s an impressive achievement. But it is only the flashy surface crimes; we never actually knew what is happening in the underground. Also, until like 40 years ago, the numbers of normal people and Quirk Users were around 50/50, and the intensity was at its peak. The violence between both groups only slowly dropped over the years because it was obvious that Quirkless was going to be outnumbered soon, so they had no choice but to give up on those ‘pure human’ campaigns.”

Koichi responded with a dumbfounded face as he tried to process the information. Many things that Dazai just said weren't really taught in school. There were a few chapters about the Dark Age after Quirks was introduced to society and the world fell into chaos, but much information wasn’t explained properly. 

The school’s history didn’t teach that when Quirks were rare, normal humans feared these new powers to the point that they committed so many horrible crimes. The gruesome past, filled with genocide, was covered up to avoid the future generation from turning it into an excuse for hate. Not like that would work much because humans always find a reason to hate others who are different from them.

Dazai sighed, “Forget it. Don’t think too much, you look stupid. Let’s go back to the All Might topic.”

“I just don’t think that Heroes should be treated like some sort of celebrity. That makes the definition of heroism become a cheap thing.” Dazai explained his reason.

Koichi thought for a bit before answering, “Even so, I’m still grateful to know about All Might’s good deeds. He inspired me a lot throughout the years, and he is the reason that I became the Crawler to help people.”

“You said that Heroism became a cheap thing, but it is because it is cheap that so many average people like me can afford to dream about it,” Koichi said with a smile. This simple guy probably didn’t think much when saying that, but Dazai still looked back at him a couple of times to make sure that it was Koichi who said such a deep thing.

“You surprise me sometimes,” Dazai commented.

“Eh? It’s a good thing or…”

“We will have to wait and see,” the young teen answered cryptically.

*THUD, THUD* The ground started shaking, and there was a loud noise of heavy objects falling repeatedly. Soon screams echoed from the main crowded walking street. 

“What the..!!” Koichi almost froze on the spot when he landed his eyes on the giant monster. 

There was a giant 15-meter-tall monster that looked like a fake copy of Godzilla marching through the busy street. Its mouth was open as it couldn’t control its drooling, a purple black tongue sticking out.  

“Gigantic transformation Quirk, maybe?” Dazai said, “Chuuya would love to hit something that big without holding back, but in such a narrow space isn’t ideal.”

The boy glanced over Koichi, “We should flee. You can’t go against something this big.”

However, Koichi had already pulled up his mask and hood. “You go ahead. I will help to evacuate the civilians.” Then he slid away into the chaotic crowd.

Dazai was going to offer to use his Nullification, but then there was another easy option without showing his power in public.

“Yo, Mr. Captain! Shouldn’t you do something?” Dazai shouted at the man who returned to check on the street.

“Hmph. Sorry, but can we put a pin in that for now?” The American Hero said. “I just came back from the media team; they haven’t set up yet, and my staff is still preparing.”

“Besides, the police haven’t put in a formal request yet, so I’m not obligated to start working.” The Hero said while floating without any worry as the screams continued.

“Is that so?” Dazai’s face darkened. He raised his phone and pressed the video button, “Hello, everyone! Welcome to my live stream, I’m here with an American Hero today! Yes, straight from the States, Captain Celebrity!! Say hi, Mr. Captain! Eh? A person comments asking why he doesn’t do anything when a Villain is right there-”

The blonde Hero panickingly grabbed his phone and yelled into the mic, “HA HA HA! I-um I’m about to jump in and save the day, of course! C.C is on the job!!”

With that, the Hero flew away to deal with the Instant Villain. Dazai thought that he wouldn’t need to deal with this phony anymore for at least today but life was full of surprises.

“... Is that a truck with a DJ's stage?” Dazai frowned because the truck was heading to the Villain's attack. It stopped at a safe distance, though.

The music turned on, and those were the most stupid lyrics that he had ever listened to.

“C.C! He’s so cool!

C.C! He’s so cute!

C.C! He’s so complete!

C.C! C.C!

He’s Captain Celebrity!”

The music sounded like it was written by an elementary schooler and was sung with a thick Japanese accent. This was what the Hero was preparing for his debut? It was so bad that it was funny, but mainly it was pure cringe.

Dazai shook the horrible song out of his head when he got back to his mom. Luckily, the intern was too terrified to report that he had lost her son, so Dazai just needed to pretend that he had been staying with the guy the whole time. The poor guy was almost faint when he saw him.

Not far away from the attack, there was a temporary rescue station made by the support team of the American Hero. The team was handing out blankets, water, and checking injuries for the rescue victims. Despite having an irresponsible boss, the C.C staff was actually doing a pretty good job.

Captain Celebrity was carrying the last victim and landed in front of Dazai, “Hey, boy! I believe that this is your friend.” The Hero dropped Koichi, who looked quite rough, to the ground. After that, he dashed toward the media group that was waiting for him.

“I thought you only helped evacuate people? Did a building collapse on you?” Dazai asked as he handed out a blanket and a water bottle for the Vigilante.

“Close… I thought someone was trapped inside a building, but it turned out it was this little guy.” The Crawler pulled out a puppy under his hoodie. “I wouldn’t even manage to get out in time if it wasn’t for that Captain Celebrity.”

Dazai patted the puppy’s head, “Don’t beat yourself up. I know someone would appreciate this action of yours. They always want to rescue and adopt a puppy.” 

“Masahiko!” A young girl, around 6 years old, ran up to them. The puppy jumped out of Koichi's holding and into the embrace of the girl.

“Thank you so much! Cruller man!” She waved happily at them as she returned to her mother.

A shadow looming toward them as Mr. Captain flew over to flash his punchable face, “Naturally, protecting pets is beneath the Hero’s pay rate. So saving that puppy gets to be your accomplishment. Not bad, you did it, boy!”

“Oh… Thanks.” Koichi scratched his head.

“By the way, I’ve got one little request for you. All that running around my feet, looking utterly uncool in that hoodie of yours? Cut it out. That ugly hoodie is gonna ruin the cool factor when it is shown on TV. You see, on-site broadcasts are a big part of my overall image. And~ with that, I’m out!” The Hero adjusted the sunglasses on his face and flew away.

“... Yup, I definitely can’t stand this guy,” Koichi said.

“You and I both.” Dazai tried to remember if he had ever met such an insufferable, ignorant idiot. Ace was close, but that guy was so afraid of him that he knew better than yapping in front of the boss.

*Ting* A message arrived. But it wasn’t Dazai’s phone.

The brunette pulled out the burner phone that Knuckle Duster had given them. There was a message from an unknown number.

+8X 800X XXXX: Two days, 23:30, address: OO street, South Naruhata.

Dazai smiled so widely that it creeped Koichi out.

“You received something funny?” He asked.

“Just an invitation for a party. There is going to be a fun challenge for Chuuya and me.” Dazai answered. The brunette stared into the distance, where the Godzilla Instant Villain was carrying away. A tiny bee landed on the rough surface and stabbed the needle into the thick skin.

Chapter Text

In an old dusty classroom, there was a heated discussion between three students.

The Literature was having a book discussion on the one that Dazai had borrowed last time. ‘The Alchemist’ was a story about a young shepherd boy who continuously had a dream about a treasure buried under a Pyramid. He then sold off his sheep to travel to Egypt. His journey was a chain of ups and downs where he had to overcome hardship to reach his goal.

“I’m just saying that the story is simple and a bit naive, that’s all.” Dazai held up the book with a yellow cover with the pyramid drawing.

“The spiritual elements are interesting, but the journey of the shepherd boy is too straightforward and repetitive. I prefer the story to have some kind of heavy price or tragedy happen, it would give the story more depth, rather than an overrated lesson about following your dream.” Dazai placed the book down on the table.

Hirano, the club president, argued, “It’s a classical hero journey. You don’t need to complicate it, and what is wrong with the ‘being brave and following your dream’ message?”

“Nothing. It’s just overdone.” Dazai shrugged.

“So Dazai-kun here is one of those deep and edgy readers, huh?” Okura said.

“Excuse you, my taste is amazing! You guys have the childish taste of middle schoolers.”

“We are in middle school, and YOU are the youngest here.” Hirano grumbly pointed out.

Oh yeah… thought the boy whose mental age was in his late twenties. “Still, the story is unrealistic; the universe isn’t that kind to everyone. If you want something, you can’t just wing it and pray for the best.”

“I think you are focusing on the wrong thing. The point of the story is about the journey and how the protagonist gets out of his comfort zone. This is a good lesson nonetheless.” Okura pushed up his glasses and explained. “Have you ever wanted something really bad but never had enough courage to achieve it?”

A beautiful redhead flashed through Dazai’s mind, and he shook his head, “I’m confident to be able to achieve anything I want, but I’m smart enough to know that nothing comes without a price. And if there is something that I desire, and I decide not to get it, then… It’s because it would be better for everyone that I never had it.”

The other students stared at him with big, innocent eyes.

“Whoa… Okura was wrong, you aren’t edgy… Dazai-kun is the definition of an edgelord.” Hirano pointed at him before folding herself in half, laughing.

The freshman whined about how mean his senpai were while the others kept teasing him. Okura was laughing so hard that he accidentally slammed his arm a bit too hard on the table. His face immediately wrinkled in pain, but he quickly covered it up. Hirano didn’t notice it, but the action caught Dazai’s eye.

“Alright, I think that’s enough for the book discussion. Let’s have another writing session. I will get more paper.” The president walked out of the room and headed to the office for more writing materials.

After the girl’s footsteps disappeared, Dazai turned to ask the glasses-wearing student.

“Okura-senpai, how is your arm? You hit it pretty hard.”

“Oh… it’s nothi-” 

Dazai cut out his sentence, “Don’t worry! I have some gauze bandages and even emergency cool packs. It’s very hard to be a good dog owner, you see. Especially to such an energetic chihuahua, they keep getting small injuries out of nowhere.” The brunette complained and pulled out a package of first aid.

Facing Dazai’s enthusiasm, the older student was hesitant to reveal his arm. Okura played nervously with the hem of his gakuran jacket. Dazai pretended not to see his expression and waited patiently for him to expose his arm.

Finally, Okura pulled up his sleeves. Underneath it were blue and purple bruises that scattered along the forearm. There was no way that these injuries were caused by the bump just now. 

Dazai silently wrapped the bruises and gave the other the cooling pack, “Was it those guys again?”

“Yeah… but please don’t tell the president. I don’t want her to make a fuss with the teachers again." Okura lowered his head to avoid the other’s eyes.

“What happened the last time she knew?”

“... She told a teacher, and when nothing was done, she tried to take on those guys herself.” Okura sighed. “This is her last year in middle school, and I don’t want her to get in trouble because of me. She needs a good record to get into a good high school."

Dazai thought for a bit, “Then how about I help you with this. I can make sure they leave you alone in no time.”

Instead of accepting the offer, Okura snarked at him. “Why? Do you think that I can’t deal with this without some Quirks?”

“I don’t need you to play Hero to me. I’m not some helpless civilian who needs to be saved.” Ah, the pride of a young man, who was Dazai, to go against it. Still, the brunette took mental note to observe the situation in case it got out of hand. But in the end, they still dropped this conversation.

The rest of the clubtime passed peacefully. Before departing, Okura stopped and spoke quietly to Dazai.

“Still… thanks for the gauze.”

“You’re welcome.” The brunette smiled at him.

On their way back home, Dazai and Chuuya passed by a building that was in the middle of deconstruction. Due to the Godzilla Instant Villain that had happened the other day, some damaged buildings needed to be demolished and rebuilt them back to the quality standard. This was a usual scene in the city. However, it seemed like something went wrong during this deconstruction area, as there was a police team, a firefighter truck, and even a media team surrounding the building.

“Ah! More cracks!” A police officer shouted into his mic. “Everyone, move back! Did everyone inside evacuate?”

“Two workers are still inside. But don’t worry, a Hero is on it.” A firefighter said.

Then flying out of the building was the new Pro Hero of Naruhata, Captain Celebrity. The blonde American was bride-carrying a female worker and easily emerged from the almost collapsing building.

The Double Black had come closer to check the situation and witnessed the scene.

“Is this the guy you met?” Chuuya frowned as they watched the man fly straight to where the camera was waiting. There was even a team of cheerleaders with crop tops and mini skirts standing on the side to cheer on him.

“He looks like your typical narcissistic asshole.” The red-haired said.

“And he probably is. But lucky for us, he is also an idiot, so we can run around doing our things without worrying about someone breathing down our necks.”

“Wait!” Chuuya realized something, “Weren’t there two people inside? The guy only recused one?!” The red-haired one was preparing to throw their backpack at Dazai’s face and rushed into the building, but the brunette grabbed their arm.

“Chill, Chibi. Someone is already on it.” Dazai pointed to a shadow exiting the almost collapsing building. This was Koichi helping a muscled worker twice his size. After exiting the building and releasing the worker, the Vigilante was quickly pushed aside by the reporters waiting to interview Captain Celebrity and had to make an escape by crawling through their legs.

“Koic- Crawler!” A pink-haired girl in tight custom jumped down from a nearby building while calling the Vigilante.

“I’m- Ugh- I’m fine!” Koichi stood up from the ground.

“Why didn’t the Hero carry that worker out?” Pop Step pointed at the Hero, who had started punching the building to demolish it. Cameras flashed everywhere, and the cheerleaders were waving their pom-poms on the side.”

“He said that carrying men doesn't suit his image.” Koichi pouted at the light and music display. “Now this guy even has cheerleaders. Isn't it a little too frivolous and unserious… Damn, I’m kind of jealous of how flashy it all is.”

“You just exposed your pettiness." Pop Step shook her head, “But I guess this is just how they do it in the States? I mean, some of our Japanese Heroes are also entertainers, in a way. What’s wrong with having a little show-on-side? Kind of like a live performance.”

“I can tell you at least 27 things that are wrong with it.” The two Vigilantes startled and turned to the voice. But then immediately relaxed when they saw the familiar faces.

“Sup’,” Chuuya waved. The person who had said the previous sentences was Dazai.

“What is with you kids? Always lurking around, jumping people!” Pop Step gazed at Dazai, whose face looked way too smug.

“Maybe you should pay more attention to your surroundings.” Dazai told her, "And I can’t believe you actually approve of this stupid performance.”

“Huh? What’s wrong with it? It’s just a harmless show.” Pop Step folded her arms.

“People shouldn’t treat serious matters like some kind of show. This could cause long-term consequences on the social level. Imagine if a disaster happens and the first thing that people do is to go near it to take pictures of the Pro Heroes in action.” Dazai rolled his eyes. The pink-haired girl was countered with logic and had to back down, annoyingly.

“And don’t even think about applying any of these attention-grabbing methods. Should I remind you that your thing isn’t exactly legal?” Chuuya added, and Koichi rubbed his head embarrassingly.

“AH! CRULLER MAN AND POP STEP!” The group turned to the shout and found a cheerleader running up to them. Looking closer, the cheerleader was none other than Makoto, Koichi’s senpai from his college.

“Hey! Gimme an interview! Just a minute of your time?!” She yelled at them.

“Crap! Let’s split.” Koichi pulled up his mask and fled the scene with Pop Step following him.

“Wait!” Makoto shouted, but the Vigilantes were already too far for her to catch up. The college girl stopped for a breath and asked the two middle schoolers who were still there.

“Oh, hey! It’s you two! Were you two chatting with them just now? Did they say anything interesting?” Makoto asked Chuuya and Dazai, who didn’t run off.

“Just saying hi. How is your thesis going, Makoto-san?” Dazai changed the subject.

“Well, it-” Someone cut her off.

“Makoto! We need you! The media people want a way to contact us.” “Makoto! A girl here wants to apply for the cheer job.” “Makoto! The rescue squad says they need more people.”

“Okay! I will be there in a minute!” Makoto said back to the group of Captain Celebrity's supporting team. The girl then excused herself to go back to her job. Before rushing back, Makoto handed them a business card and told them to contact her if they found anything new about the Vigilantes, with a reward, of course.

C.C Corporation - Japanese branch PR manager: Tsukauchi Makoto - that was what was written on the card.

Dazai put it in his pocket. Not sure if this would be useful, but let's keep it first.

Looking up at the orange sky, Dazai told his partner. “We should start preparing. Can’t miss our date, right?”

“Don’t phrase it like that.” Chuuya wrinkled their nose. “I’ve been preparing for days. You, on the other hand, complain like a baby every time I ask you to do anything.”

“But I’m a baby~” Dazai opened his eyes wide and blinked at the red-haired for the puppy eyes effect. Chuuya faked throwing up.

The night soon fell on the city. The Double Black arrived at the destination that Knuckle Duster had sent them. The duo found the old man standing on a rooftop, holding a pair of binoculars and looking at a store crossing the street.

The store was a run-down recycle shop named Hoppers. This was a store that bought and repaired second-hand furniture and resold it. This type of business was popular among the low-income area.

There wasn’t much to observe from their positions. The furniture and random household objects were packed densely at the front of the shop, making it difficult to see the inside. However, there were moving shadows inside the shop so at least they knew that there were people in there.

“So what is the situation, old man? Wait for the insiders to be gone and break in. Or break in now and capture them?” Chuuya asked as both of them walked over to his side.

“Hum, you brats are way too familiar with this.” The older man dropped the binoculars, leaving them hanging around his neck. “I should be concerned, but I know you won’t answer anything I ask.”

“Great guessing.” Dazai smiled cheekily. “Back to our main topic then.”

Knuckle Duster grumbled, “We are here to confront the owners of this shop. I’ve been digging around and was told that the two brothers who own this store are drug dealers. The plan is to capture and beat the shit out of them to get information about the Trigger.”

“Sound great to me.” Chuuya shrugged and bumped their fists together, looking excitedly at the promise of violence.

“Do we actually have to use that plan?” Dazai asked and received the same answer from the others.

“What’s wrong with it?!”, “Yeah! It’s the most effective way, mackerel.”

“... I’m surrounded by brutes.” Dazai sighed.

However, Dazai didn’t stop them. After all the advantages were on their side with the presence of the Double Black. It didn’t really matter what method they used.

It was 10 minutes until the clock hit 0 o’clock. The street was empty, and the dead silence was pulling on people’s nerves.

Inside the store, there were two men moving the furniture around. One of them wore a cap and asked the other once after he finished arranging the table.

“This is the last one, right?”

The one with a goatee answered, “Yup. We only need to wait for the delivery, and then we can close the shop.”

*Knock, knock* Their conversation was cut short. The two brothers looked at each other in confusion. They knew for sure that their delivery boy wouldn’t knock, and they hadn’t been informed of any walk-in customers.

“Ichiro, get the door.” The brother with the goatee said. One of his arms was slowly transforming into a green color, and spikes were growing out of the side of his arm. It wasn’t a coincidence that they named their store: Hoppers. Both of the brothers owned Transform Quirks that allowed them to change their body parts into grasshoppers.

Ichiro, the older brother, opened the door with his leg partly transformed. Greeting him was a somewhat short figure in a gray hoodie. The shadow covered their face, and they had a blue scarf around their neck and lower face.

“Hello, Mister~ Is this the right place if I want to buy fun stuff?” The voice was kinda young and boyish, and judging by their frame, the Hopper brother guessed that this was an underage kid searching for illegal drugs to act out with his rebellious friends.

“Go home, kid. We don’t sell shit.” Ichiro rolled his eyes and was about to slam the door in the kid’s face. The door was stopped by an interrupting foot.

“H-hold up! I can pay for it!!” The kid tried to stop the closing door and waved a thick stack of 10.000 yen bills at him. “With full cash!”

“Fuck off! We don't sell things for children. Fuck! Jirou, come and help me!” Struggling to close the door, Ichiro asked his younger brother for help.

“What the heck! Just chase him out.” Jirou walked to the door and pushed it open with the intention of scaring the kid away first.

The moment the insiders pushed open the door, Dazai quickly stepped aside. From on top of the building, Knuckle Duster swung down using his grappling hook. Using momentum physics similar to a wrecking ball, the Vigilante’s boots made an impact with the people standing inside the door, and the two brothers were kicked down straight to the ground.

Their bodies were thrown back and hit multiple objects on the way. Knuckle Duster released the hook and jumped down on top of them.

“Come on, scumbags! Spit out your source!” The old man grabbed the collar of one brother and raised his fist. But before he could deliver it, Knuckle Duster was kicked aside by the other.

The force of a human-sized grasshopper kick was enough to push the muscled, grown man away. The brothers were ready to suppress their pain from the previous surprise attack to jump the Vigilante, but a petite figure joined the fight. In the blink of an eye, both dealers were glued to the ground.

“Now that's an anti-climax,” Dazai said as he took some ropes from the ground and threw them to Chuuya. “I was expecting some ‘WHAP’ and ‘BAM’. Take note of that next time, Rouge?”

“Shut up! You useless fish!” Chuuya took the rope and tied the assumed dealers back to back together with the help of Knuckle Duster. The Hopper brothers were cursing them all the way.

Dazai grabbed a chair and sat on it in the elegant position of a young master. The brunette smiled gently at both men’s struggles.

“Greeting, gentlemen, my companies and I have taken an interest in your certain… form of business. So we would like to have a friendly conversation with you two.”

The one with a goatee tried to spit at him but missed, “You’ll get nothing! We aren’t playing your stupid game.”

“Yeah!” The other echoed.

“Then we are doing things my way.” On the side, the old man grinned and cracked his knuckles. The metal weapons in their hands shone despite the sweat and blood on them.

The dealers were shaking slightly, and Dazai yawned at the boring performance.

“This will take a while. Rouge, go check the second floor. Remember to bring back anything suspicious.” The redhead mumbled a complaint about the order but followed it anyway.

In the meantime, Dazai would have to work with Knuckle Duster to figure out these guys’ deals. He also needed to make sure the old man wouldn’t kill them first.

“Now!” Knuckle Duster showed his maniac grin at the sweating pair of brothers. “Open your mouths and stick out your tongues.”

“... Eh?!”

After checking, there weren’t any unusual colors on their tongues, but that didn’t mean that they weren't selling it. Therefore, in Dazai’s experience, it would be better to confront directly and see how things go.

“I have a couple of questions. You two can refuse to answer, of course, but I will make sure that you’ll change your mind.” Dazai tilted his head over the scary Vigilante. “Also, we aren’t from any legal enforcement, so anything happened here will stay between us.”

“Why should we trust you? You attacked us out of nowhere.”

“It was the quickest way.” Dazai shrugged unapologetically. “So the first question, what do you know about Trigger?”

“Trigger?” The one wearing the baseball cap repeated confusingly, “I first heard some rumors about it about six months ago, but that’s it.”

The one with a goatee narrowed his eyes, “Are you trying to ask if we have it? No, we don’t. You came to the wrong place.”

“Is that so?” Dazai folded his hands together. On his side, Knuckle Duster kept complaining that he should let him punch the answer out of them.

*THUMP* A heavy, box-shaped object was dropped in the middle of the room.

“Found a safe on the second floor. It seems to be used quite regularly, so I brought it down.” Chuuya explained while sitting on the metal box, swinging their legs. The red-haired observed the two brothers and saw their eyes widen in panic and whispered to each other in small voices. Or at least, they thought it was in a small voice.

“Fuck! That’s-”

“SHHH! Don’t say it! ACT NATURAL!”

The rest of the room looked at them, who were whispering/yelling, like idiots. Dazai walked to the box and pushed Chuuya’s legs aside.

“Give up, stupid brat! No way you can open it. There are like 10.000 possible comb-”

*Click* It took Dazai around 30 seconds to open it.

“...” The face of the dealer was priceless.

The Hoppers lowered their heads in defeat while the others took out all the packages and bottles to examine them on a nearby table.

“Your source is correct. These guys are drug dealers, but…” Dazai held up a bottle of pills. Most of the drugs they got here were some types of hallucinogenic drugs, like cannabis, and other plant-based types. The products looked like they were from countries that legalized these drugs. There were some vapes and sport-enhanced drugs, but that was all.

“None of these are Triggers.” Knuckle Duster said with gritting teeth. The old man slammed hard on the table. Trigger was stored in an unlabeled injection and was a liquid drug. Unfortunately, none of the products in the safety box matched it.

The Vigilante turned around to threaten the dealers, “Where did you hide the Trigger?” He grabbed and twisted the shirt of the cap guy - Ichiro.

“We don’t have it!! Any type of Quirk Boosting drugs hasn’t been sold around for years!” 

“Yeah! Even if you ask long-time dealers in every corner of Tokyo, you won’t be able to get a single pack. We are just small flies trying to get some quick cash.” The goatee - Jirou said.

“Old man, drop them! I have something to ask.” Dazai pocketed the small bottle in his hand. “You said that Quirk Boosters trading had been interrupted for years, but before that. How were things smuggled to Japan?”

“We don’t know exactly, but… I think they got it from China or Central Asia. But we never got our hands on Quirk Boosters. Even when they were available, they were mainly associated with Villains and underground fighting rings. We don’t have the guts to mess with those people.”

Dazai thought it made sense, “One last thing before we let you two go. How do you sell these substances in the area? I want your routines and everyone you meet.” Even though these two weren’t the Trigger dealers, if Dazai could get information about their trading routines to analyse the pattern of the Trigger dealers. Drug trading in the same area tended to align with each other.

“For that, you would have to ask our delivery boy,” Jirou said. His eyes lingered at the front door.

Dazai raised his brow at the strange phrase before shouting, “Duck!”

A dash of blue fire swept through the space on top of their heads. Dazai dropped down to the floor and stayed near the Hopper brothers. Chuuya hid behind the safety while Knuckle Duster narrowly ducked the flame. The store was filled with flammable wooden furniture, and the newcomer was aware of it, so the fire was aimed at the empty space on top of them.

“I will need you guys to let those two go. I haven’t received my salary this week yet.” The young man standing at the entrance said. The guy had white spiky hair and dressed mostly in black. There were unusual scars all over his face and arms.

“God damn it, Dabi! Don’t burn down the shop and get us out of here!” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Dabi raised his hands, and blue flames lit up. He looked quite intimidating as he stood here, blocking their way out and ready to burn down everything to get his way.

For a moment, he had the upper hand.

Only a moment, though.

The safety box was surrounded in crimson light and flew straight toward the guy before the guy could react. The melting point of steel was 1500°C, so his blue flame had no chance.

Dabi was hit and thrown back like a rag doll. Chuuya had reduced the speed a bit before the box hit him, but the impact was still strong enough to fling the guy at least 5 meters back, leaving him lying on the street in pain.

“... Any more helpers that you have? Might as well welcome them all.” Chuuya smirked.

“...” 

Eventually, Dabi was also tied up with Dazai keeping his hand on him to nullify the Quirk.

“I just want to say that I have no connection with them besides they pay me to deliver things.” Dabi quickly surrendered and sold the brothers out.

“Traitor!”

“And we have been helping you since you were on the street.”

“I ain’t going to stay if you get arrested, and you know that.” Dabi defended his decision.

“Now now, no one is getting arrested… If you listen to me, that is.” Dazai said.

“So Dabi, right? How about an offer?” The brunette smiled slyly like a fox. “We want to buy the information about your usual dealing routine.”

“... How much?” No why or what questions, this Dabi guy didn’t give a damn about the business. But it benefited them, so it didn’t matter where this guy's heart was placed.

“50.000 yen, full cash.”

“80.000 yen and we have a deal.” Dabi narrowed his eyes, “And I get to be paid upfront.”

Dazai shrugged, “No problem… But~ just for you know, the old man will supervise the whole deal.” The boy pointed at Knuckle Duster. The man was glancing at him with the intensity of a tiger looking at its prey.

Dabi should have raised double the prices.

However, in the end, they all got something out of this (besides the Hopper brothers). Even though they didn’t know more about the Trigger dealing, having more information about the local drug routines would benefit them in getting closer to tracking them down. As for Dazai and Chuuya’s test today.

“You brats pass.” Knuckle Duster lit up a cigarette. “If you had acted carelessly and rushed to the fight without thinking, I would bench you immediately. But because you are still able to follow basic orders and actually know what you are doing, I’m allowing you to continue playing detectives.”

Chuuya wanted to say that they didn’t need any approval, but Dazai cut them off. 

“Ah, right! We did it!” Dazai jumped up excitedly. “What about the rest of the deal? When will we get access to your side of the information?”

The old man finished the smoke and threw the butt on the ground. He stomped on it as he took out a photo.

“Let’s start with this.”

Chapter Text

“It’s here! It’s here!” Koichi yelped happily as he held a delivery box.

“What’s here?” Pop Step asked. The girl was in her school uniform and was doing her homework at the only table in the apartment. Sitting opposite her was Chuuya with Dazai lying on their lap. The redhead had been nagging him to start his essay, but with little to no success.

“Newest officially licensed All Might merchandise!” Koichi opened the box and pulled out an All Might hoodie similar to the one he always wore.

“I don’t see how it is different from your other ones,” Chuuya said, failing to see the appeal of those things.

Koichi gasped at them and opened his drawer to show dozens of All Might hoodies, “Don’t you see the differences between this one and the others? The red is much deeper, and the yellow bunny-like top is softer. How can you not notice it? These are from a collectible merch line that releases one special edition each year, and I have collected them all… Well, except one.”

“It's a waste of money,” Chuuya commented.

“Sounds like an ultimate money grab profiting off naive fans. Maybe I should invest in some stocks in this industry.” Dazai said as he played with the curls of his partner’s hair.

“... I can tell that you’re insulting me, ya know?” Koichi sighed, “But I don’t care if you think it isn’t worth it. Just wearing an All Might hoodie fills me with the courage to be the Crawler, so I won't be ashamed of it.” He patted the hoodie proudly.

Pop Step seemed to be the only one interested in his hobby, so she asked, “Why do you only miss one edition?”

“Oh, that. Remember when I told you guys about how I missed the Hero entrance exam? After saving that boy from the river, I gave him that hoodie.” Koichi answered casually. For some reason, Pop Step flicked, but she didn’t stomp off like last time.

*Ring, ring*

Koichi checked the name on his phone and answered, “Dad? What’s wrong? You don’t usually call this hour?”

<...>

“EHH?! Mom’s coming here? WHAT? Tomorrow?!” He screamed into the phone. After ending the call, he immediately started to clean the room in panic.

“Shit shit shit! I’m done for!” Koichi kept talking to himself while swiping the floor until he could see his reflection.

“Why all the panic?” Pop Step was confused.

“My mom’s the strictest woman you’ll ever meet. I’ll be scolded to death if I leave the room messy.”

“Seriously? Have some backbone, you aren’t a kid.” Chuuya said before pinching the nose of the person lying on their lap. “And you, Mackerel! Act so childish but as stubborn as a rock despite how many times I scolded you.”

“Yet you do it anyway. Who is the stubborn one, I wonder?” Dazai stuck out his tongue.

“Well, Chuuya’s scolding is nothing compared to my mom’s, alright?!” Koichi ignored those two, who were obviously flirting, and proceeded to wipe the windows. “I almost wasn’t able to come to Tokyo to study because of her objections. She told me, ‘A naive softy like you will get tricked by hooligans into committing a crime’, can you imagine?”

The others in the room stared at him.

Pop Step made an uneasy face, “I mean… She’s kinda…” ‘right’ was left unsaid.

“Does he not recognize that his whole Vigilante deal is a repetitive crime?” Chuuya whispered. Dazai put a finger over their mouth, “Shh~ Don’t tell him. I want to see how this goes.”

Not knowing others’ thoughts, Koichi continued his ramblings.

“If she finds anything wrong, I’ll be forced to quit school and move back to the countryside. Oh God! What did I tell her during my recent updates?” He put out his fingers to count. “Let’s see. I told her that ‘Doing great in school’, ‘Having a good reputation at my part-time job’, ‘Living a good life’, and… ‘I’ve found myself a wonderful girlfriend’.”

Pop Step blushed at the last sentence and looked embarrassed out of nowhere.

On the other hand.

“Yeah bitch, you’re screwed,” Chuuya said calmly.

“Such an idiotic lie, what were you thinking?” Dazai poked his wound without a hint of sympathy. There was no mercy from the duo. 

“I don’t remember! It just came up! What if she demands to meet my girlfriend, then what?” Koichi asked himself mostly.

“H-how could you say such a stupid thing?” Pop Step covered her blushing face. “I’m going home!” The pink-haired then gathered her stuff and hopped away, leaving the rest to their own things.

Later that night, Chuuya received a message from the girl.

Friday, 09:23 pm

Pop Step: Hey! Do you think this fits me?

(Send a picture of her wearing a long plain white dress, a pink cardigan, and a pom-pom hat)

Me: If you want something simple, then sure, I guess?

But what is with the hat?!! You look like a Christmas elf

You CAN’T mix that type of hat with a flowy dress

Pop Step: Really? I thought it looked fine

How about this one

(Send a picture of a green bucket hat)

Me: That will crash with the entire outfit!!

You know what? When will you need this outfit?

Pop Step: … Tomorrow noon

Me: Send me an address. I’ll bring my stuff to you in the morning.

Chuuya knew that they had suggested it, but it was an impulsive decision. Now they were kinda hesitant to press the doorbell. It wasn’t that the ginger doubted Pop Step but it was a surprise that the older girl had sent her actual house address. Until now, none of the Vigilantes or the Double Black knew about Pop Step’s real name and her civilian life.

The redhead pressed the button next to the family name sign.

*Ding dong* The sound echoed in the small house. And it only took a few seconds to hear someone’s footsteps.

“Coming… Oh. Hello, who are you looking for?” The one who opened the door was a middle-aged woman with pink hair. Her features just screamed that she was related to Pop Step.

Chuuya bowed their head to greet her, “Hello, my name is Nakahara Chuuya, and I’m looking for Haneyama Kazuho. She invited me to hang out today.”

“Oh, right! She told me that a kohai from her middle school would pay a visit. Come in, kid.” The woman smiled and opened the door for them to enter. She then introduced herself as Pop Step’s or Kazuho’s mother.

“I was surprised when she said that she was going to have a friend over. I can’t remember the last time that something like this happened.” Kazuho’s mother said as she led them to her daughter’s room.

Chuuya took it as the sign to continue the conversation, “I’m guessing that she doesn't usually have people over?”

“No. Never actually. My Kazuho can be a bit shy around her peers, so I’m so glad that she’s comfortable enough to invite you here. By the way, how did you kids know each other? You’re a couple of years younger than her, right?” The woman looked at them expectantly.

That wasn’t included in the pre-discussed cover story, so Chuuya had to come up with something on the spot, “Um… Well… we met through voluntary work.”

“What kind?”

“You know… community stuff, helping the locals.” Technically, that wasn’t a lie. A bit of stretch, but not a lie.

They reached a bedroom, and Pop’s mother knocked on the pink wooden door.

“Kazuho, your friend is here.” She called her daughter, and the door was pulled open after a few seconds. Pop Step appeared a bit flustered when she opened the door.

“Eh! Mom! You should have called me. No need to lead her all the way.”

“I only want to meet your little friend. Don’t worry, I didn’t say anything embarrassing. Have fun, girls.” Her mother laughed and left them to head back to the kitchen.

Pop Step sighed like any teenager when talking about their parents. “Sorry, she has been excited since I told her that you would come over. Come in.”

“It’s fine. She was nice.” Chuuya said and then held up a paper bag. “I brought a few items to match your outfit.”

They entered Pop’s room, and Chuuya put the paper bag on a coffee table in the middle of the room. The room was simple with a few cute plushies here and there. There were a couple of outfits lying on the bed, so Pop must have been mix-matching the clothes.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect you to invite me to your real house. You don’t share much about yourself.” Chuuya said as they took out a few hats in different styles from the paper bag.

Pop Step didn’t think that was a big deal. “It’s not like I have anything to talk about. Besides, the topic hasn't come up, so I don’t really have a chance to talk about it.”

“You’re right. I’m just surprised that you’re comfortable enough to let us know more about you.” 

“Why wouldn’t I? I trust you guys… Maybe not the old man, though.”

Chuuya blinked at her before laughing quietly.

The pink-haired blushed, “Wha- what? Did I say something funny?”

Chuuya shook their head with a smile on their lips, “Don’t worry, I laughed because I was nervous over nothing. Now. Can you tell me what you are dressing up for?”

“I-um… Well.” Pop Step started tripping over her own words. It turned out she wanted to help Koichi by pretending to be his girlfriend. When Chuuya asked if this was Koichi’s idea, Pop denied.

“No way that guy has the guts to ask me that! I just pity him, so I’m doing him a favor… Besides, it would be bad if his mom actually forces him to go back home.” The girl muttered the last part.

It wasn’t Chuuya’s business, so they decided not to address the weird atmosphere. Still…

“Wouldn’t his mom find problems with him dating a 16-year-old?” That was the age of consent in Japan, but it could raise some eyebrows.

“W-what? He is only 3 years older than me!” Pop flustered.

“It’s still kinda inappropriate for a college student to date a high school freshman.”

Pop Step looked quite embarrassing. Chuuya didn’t mean to dishearten her, and whatever feelings she had. They simply suggested a possibility.

Feeling a bit guilty, Chuuya added, “You can meet his mom as his friend. If she heard how much of a positive impact he is to others, maybe she would let him stay.”

“... Yeah, that could work.” Pop Step thought about it and agreed. “Hold on, why are we wasting our time? I still haven’t chosen any proper outfit.”

The two went through the whole closet to find anything suitable to meet the parents of a ‘friend’. While going through the top section, Chuuya saw a hoodie with familiar primary colors.

“I didn’t know you had the same taste as Koichi’s. Why do you have an All Might hoodie in your closet?” They took out a hoodie with yellow bunny ears, with the part from the neck down made of red and white fabric.

“Uh-huh-... T-t-that’s-” Pop Step quickly retreated the hoodie from their hands and acted like a chicken choking on seeds. The girl’s face was as red as a tomato, and she kept tripping over her own words. Chuuya raised their brow, unsure if they should push for an answer. It was a corny Hero merchandise, but it couldn’t be such an embarrassing thing to own, right?

They considered telling Pop that there was no need to answer, but the girl managed to gather her courage and admitted, “Remember Koichi’s Hero entrance exam story? This is the one that Koichi gave me after saving me from the river.”

Chuuya blinked, “Didn’t he say it was a boy-”

“I AM NOT A BOY! I just had short hair back then. Koichi is an idiot!” She complained before slowing down and telling them the story. “I used to have to cross a river to go back home, so I always used my Quirk to jump over as a shortcut. That day, there had been rain the night before, so I slipped and fell.”

“And you know the rest, Koichi saved me and gave me the hoodie to keep me warm. When I met him again recently, I wanted to say ‘thank you' and return the hoodie. But then so many things happened, and I never got the right chance.”

“Then he told us how he missed the entrance exam into his dream Hero program. I just didn’t know what to do.” Pop Step dropped her back on the bed, hugging the hoodie in her arms.

“That was his choice. Besides, Koichi doesn't have an ounce of hate in his bones to blame you.” Chuuya said as they sat next to her on the bed. “If he does, I’ll punch him for you.”

“I know that. But I still don’t want to be the reason he missed his chance.” The pink-haired buried her face into a pillow, “Even now, I can’t even be brave enough to return the hoodie. I thought that being Pop Step, I’ll have enough courage, but no matter what mask I have on, I’m still the original Kazuho.”

“So what? Can't Kazuho be brave?” Chuuya asked curiously.

“Because Kazuho… because I’m just some shy loner in my daily life. Back in middle school, I was chubby and boyish, so people teased me a lot. After spending a lot of time in my room, I started uploading my songs on the internet under the name Pop Step and received a lot of praise. Soon, one thing led to another, and I started my street performances.

Being Pop Step, I can sing and dance freely in front of a crowd. Wearing a bold outfit, wearing heavy makeup, without anyone judging the real me. With the mask on, I can pretend to be those stars on the TV, bringing joy to everyone.

… But all the confidence while I’m in the Pop Step outfit isn’t applied to my normal self. I have been in high school for two months, yet I still end up being a weird, awkward girl with no friends. I can’t even be honest with you guys.”

The pink-haired groaned into her pillow, “You must think that I’m such a loser. Whining to someone younger than me.”

“No, I’m not. In fact, I could understand the feeling of getting along with your peers.”

“Liar. I heard you and Dazai talking. Chuuya here is in a sports team, has a flashy Quirk, and is pretty too. Someone like you has to have an easy time making friends with anyone.”

It was true that Chuuya had a lot of people who wanted to be associated with them in school. However, with the mental age of approximately 30 years old, the red-haired didn’t have enough patience to deal with teenagers, one Dazai was enough to drive them crazy. They chatted occasionally with people in the soccer club, but that was it.

“I actually don’t have many friends in school. One part is because I feel way more mature than them, and another part is because I don’t think they like the real me.” Chuuya now also lay down on the bed.

“What do you mean?” Pop Step peeked up.

“People see me from the outside, and they assume things about me even before they know me. This usually leads to disappointment when the things I show don’t fit their assumptions." It probably didn’t help that Chuuya wasn’t sure what to show the outsiders. They couldn’t show their violence, cruelty, abnormal skills, or hobbies. Without those, that version of Chuuya was incomplete and fake.

Of course, people didn’t care; to them, a normal, talented girl was what they saw. This was what ‘Nakahara Chuuya’ was in their eyes, and it was easier to deal with for both sides.

“To be honest, I always feel lost except for when I’m beside Osamu.” The redhead admitted.

Both of them stayed quiet for a while. Then Pop Step broke the silence.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed things. You must have your own problems to deal with,” Pop Step said. “I was just rambling because I was annoyed with myself.”

“Don’t worry about it, it isn’t a big deal.” They shook their head.

“Still, I want to say something.” Pop Step rose from the bed and looked straight at the red-haired. “I believe that many people would like to be your friend. I mean it. You saved me and Koichi so many times, even though it isn't your responsibility. You're a strange kid with your equally strange friend. You yell at Dazai for his tactics, you like to fight but will always prioritize others' safety first, and I don't really get you at all... But it doesn't matter, that is how Chuuya is, and I'm glad to be your friend." 

Chuuya was stunned a bit by those words and chuckled at her, “What is with the whole ass confession? Thank you, though. I'm glad that I met you guys, too.” 

“However, don’t we forget something? It’s almost noon.” They pointed at the clock. Pop jumped up, panicking, and dived back into the pile of clothes.

The two rushed to make an outfit. An hour before Koichi’s mom arrived, they finally picked out a cutesy long dress paired with a cardigan jacket. Chuuya took out of their paper bag an ivy cap hat.

“This one will go perfectly with your outfit and hair. One of my favorites in my collection.”

“You have a hat collection?” Pop Step asked while putting on a light layer of makeup.

“Yup. And a choker collection. Remember this: if Dazai says shit about those, it’s because the Mackerel is jealous. That guy has no eyes for fashion.” They told her, as if Chuuya hadn’t stolen half of Dazai’s hoodies and sweaters.

“Speaking of him, don’t you two want to meet Koichi’s mother? As his friends and stuff?” Pink-haired asked hopefully, she didn’t exactly want to meet her alone. It would be nice to have familiar faces with her.

But Chuuya didn’t notice her insecurity, “Nope, we have a plan today. Usually on the weekends, after Dazai visits his dad, we will go to the arcade. There is a new shooting game at the nearby mall and I’ll wipe the floor with his bandages this time.”

Pop Step sighed, “Alright, have fun with your date then.”

*Thump* The bag on the redhead’s hands dropped down. Chuuya pointed at her and yelped.

“IT ISN’T A DATE! How can you suggest something like that happen between me and the stinky fish!” For someone who denied the dating rumor, Chuuya was blushing way too hard.

“Aren’t you two dating?” Pop Step was extremely confusing. She thought about the closeness between these two, the way their friendly skin touches, the whispering, and not to mention the looks in their eyes. The way Dazai’s glued to Chuuya’s smile when they fought. The way the redhead’s eyes lingered on Dazai’s movement every time he explained his plan. 

Pop Step felt so strange seeing middle schoolers, whose ages shouldn’t date yet, looking at each other with an emotion that she had only seen in romance dramas.

“... No, we’re not,” Chuuya said, turning their face away. “He doesn't think of me that way.”

Pop Step blinked, “You’re kidding, right? Don’t you see how he looks at you?... Or maybe you’re still too young for this? Never mind then, just for you to know. I’ll definitely root for you when you realize it.” The pink-haired girl winked at them before returning to brush her messy hair.

Chuuya mumbled something about not treating them like a child and how stupid the conversation was.

The green blood slashed on the screen as the zombie’s head exploded. The giant body of the final boss zombie collapsed on the ground. The final cutscene was the two characters walking out of the search base after the grand victory. However, because a happy ending was considered boring in the Hollywood standard, the game developers felt the need to add a twist.

Dazai looked at his character, who slowly turned into a zombie. Next to him, the redhead cursed at the cliche plot twist.

“What are you waiting for, Chuuya? Give me my sweet relief of death and achieve the happy ending.” The brunette smiled teasingly at them, “Of course, unless you want to have a double suicide.”

“Urg!” Chuuya groaned. They raised the plastic gun and fired at the zombie. The shot missed the head by an inch, and Dazai’s character jumped at them. The scene of the newly turned zombie devouring the human character looked so fake with the half-ass sound effect and the censored blood.

The text ‘BAD ENDING’ mocked them.

“Oh my~ I didn’t know you felt that about us? Should I order coffins for our funeral? I have a buy one get one free coffin coupon."

“Shut up! My arms are tired, that’s all!” The redhead almost clocked him with the fake gun. “And that coupon can’t be real.” 

“Nope, it's 100% legit. I got it from a random parlor on the street.” Dazai put his gun back in the holder.

“What the hell?! Throw it away! It’ll bring you bad luck.” Chuuya slammed the gun back and typed their name on the scoring board. In the top ten, the names of the players were ‘Slug’ and ‘Mackerel’, ‘Chuu’ and ‘Dai’, ‘Dog’ and ‘Azzhole’, and a variety of nicknames that they held onto each other.

The game machine printed out their winning tickets, and Dazai rolled the string of papers into a ball.

“I’m hungry. After this, let’s get some snacks in the food court.” Chuuya told him and walked toward the prize section, with the brunette kicking the ball behind them.

The arcade prize display was shining with colorful rewards. Both of them had already exchanged the most valuable things on the shelves, but even then, those were just cheap plushes, knock-off board games, and headphones that broke on one side after two weeks.

Dazai decided quickly that he didn’t care about the junk on the shelves and told his partner to choose.

Chuuya glanced at the prizes and found an interesting mouse plushie with the eyes glued weirdly so that it looked like it was staring in two directions. The mouse cost 500 tickets so they still had like thousands of tickets left.

“It reminds me of a certain rat,” Chuuya said, holding the giant mouse. “I'm gonna tie it on a punching bag.”

“What happened between you two after I’m gone?” Dazai asked. A sense of possession was leaking out of his voice.

Chuuya tilted their head and smirked mischievously, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” The redhead knew well that Dazai would spend hours thinking about why they kept it secret, but making the Mackerel uncomfortable was one of their favorite things to do.

They then gave the rest of the tickets to nearby elementary kids and headed to the food court.

Dazai kept whining in their ears that his dog had gone rebellious and had an affair with a filthy rat. Chuuya smacked him with the plushie for talking nonsense. 

Whining as he was, it was still nice to have some time to relax. Everything had been a little overwhelming lately, not as much as their previous lives, but it was the first time in years that they had such a challenge.

The brunette sighed and leaned on his favorite ginger. He remembered the last conversation with Knuckle Duster the other day and wondered if it was the right thing to cooperate with him.

Suddenly, Dazai felt a soft object pushed on his chest, and Chuuya pushed him away.

“Hold it for me. I have a call to make.” Not waiting for his answer, the red-haired walked away.

Dazai pouted hard as if he was asking why couldn’t they talk while he’s here? But decided to swallow the controlling habit, the dark-haired held the rat plushie and took out an old photo.

He stared at the image of a young girl about 15 years old with shoulder-length orange-brown hair. In the image, the girl was holding a guitar and smiling at the one taking the photo. The photo was old with a yellow rim on its paper but it was still easy to notice that it had been well taken care of.

Dazai narrowed his eyes.

-

“Before you brats continue this case, let me tell you something about the Bee User.” Knuckle Duster said. He held the photo in his hand but didn’t seem to have the intention to give it to them as if he was hesitant. Another test? Or was he scared of something?

“It isn’t a person,” The old man said casually.

“Huh? What does that even mean? We have someone who saw them.” Chuuya asked and reminded him about the sketch they had from the spiked-haired thug.

“Let me finish, brat.” Knuckle Duster grumbled. “The Bee User, or the fucker likes to call themselves ‘Queen Bee’, is actually a parasite Quirk. I don’t know if that thing started as someone’s Quirk or maybe an animal that developed Quirk factors, but I do know that ‘Queen Bee’ can possess a person and take control over their body.”

He pointed at his left eye, “The hive of ‘Queen Bee’ is usually in the eye of its host. That way, it can connect to the neuron system.”

“Its favorite type of host is young girls. Easy to manipulate and take control over, and having the appearance of a naive girl makes others around it lower their guard.” He gazed at Chuuya, “Take this as a warning, Rouge. Don’t think of yourself as invincible with your power. The moment the ‘Queen Bee’ gets its hands on you, and has access to your Quirk and memory, this whole operation is done for.”

The redhead felt veins bulge on their forehead, “Don’t you dare to doubt my skills! It was one time that took me off guard. Normally, even bullets can’t touch me.” 

“Also, as long as I’m here. It won't be able to touch my dog’s single strand of hair.” Dazai added. “Still, you seem way too informed about this. Can I ask how long you have been investigating this ‘Queen Bee’?

“... Almost two years.” Knuckle Duster grinned his teeth, his fists curled up. “This parasite is trickier than I expected, and I can’t risk alerting it.”

“And why can’t you?” Dazai raised his brow. “You have all this information. Yet instead of your usual ‘fight first, ask later’ tactic, the way you approach this ‘Bee User’ is too cautious, way too cautious if you ask me.”

The old man left out a heavy breath and finally gave them the photo that he had. It was a photo of a teenage girl with brown, orange hair. 

“That girl in the photo is the current host. The Queen Bee can only have one host at a time, and the only way for it to transfer into a new host is the death of the current body.” Knuckle Duster took out another cigarette, “I’ve been researching for a way to counter the Queen Bee and to save the host.”

So he wanted to save an innocent girl? Dazai flipped the photo and saw on the photo’s rims, there were signs that someone had caressed it for a long time. No, there must be something more.

“Do you remember those cases of ‘undetermined death’ that I showed the group when we had the first Trigger meeting?” Dazai asked suddenly, and the old man avoided his gaze. “There is a case where a couple was found dead with needle marks on their necks. After the encounter with the Bee User, I have revisited the case and found that there were toxins that can be found in bee venom injected into their bodies before their hearts collapsed. And the most important thing is that it wasn’t the only case; many cases of people dying with similar symptoms have been found in the area."

“You were aware of that.” The brunette boy accused him, “You’re well aware that the Queen Bee has been going around freely with this girl's body to lure and kill people. There is a wanted warrant for these cases; you can easily send an anonymous note to the authority. Yet you’ve done nothing until now. You spent two years running around to find a cure, while you don’t even know if the girl can still be saved.

I know for a fact that you aren’t somebody who thinks that ‘No, I can’t risk accidentally killing someone innocent’. I saw you attack bystanders and beat the Villains into submission. You would hurt and kill if that means the pros outnumber the cons.

So I have to ask what's so special about her that you’re ready to trade multiple civilian lives for a chance to save her?” The dark brown eyes stared through his soul. At that moment, the accusing glance pierced through the dark curtains. Those promises of making Koichi into a Hero, those cheesy lines telling that he was the ally of justice came crashing down.

It was an awkward silence before a laugh broke the tension.

“HA HA HA!!” Knuckle Duster laughed out loud, “You brats really see through my bullshit, huh?”

Chuuya asked, “Shouldn’t you be mad that we just say that you’re indirectly responsible for all those deaths?”

“Why would you be mad at the truth? In fact, you can blame everything on me. I’m a useless bastard who let everything get to this point.” The old man took a long drag of smoke and pointed at the photo, “Yeah, your doubt is correct. The girl in the photo… the current host of the Queen Bee is my daughter.”

“What?!” Chuuya was startled.

“Call it,” Dazai mumbled.

Knuckle Duster then explained the reason why he hadn’t informed the authority or gone after the Bee User recklessly was that he couldn’t risk having the Queen Bee kill off the host to transfer into another vessel.

“I don’t trust the Heroes to put my kid’s life over the well-being of others, nor can I risk having my daughter’s name on the list of yearly deaths caused by Vilians.” The old man said, “Call me whatever you want, but I will do anything to bring my family back.”

Dazai thought for a bit before saying, “I ain’t judging you. Moral talk isn’t my thing. What I want to know is whether your target would interfere with our target of tracking down the drug ring?”

Maybe his words were too cold, a kid admitting that he didn’t care about the deaths of all those people. Knuckle Duster gave him a long look. Dazai casually made eye contact with him; the brunette didn’t see the point of pretending to care about people he didn’t know. His target was straightforward - track down the drug distribution and destroy them before they could cause harm to the most precious thing to him. This made Dazai realize that he and this violent Vigilante were quite alike in certain ways.

“How about a deal? You little gremlins seem to like those things, right?” The old man asked, “You don’t need to help me save my daughter, but just leave me to deal with the Queen Bee myself. Besides that condition, we can cooperate to help each other.

There is more about the Trigger than you can think of. I have been on this case since before you could walk. If you don’t want to waste your time, you need me.”

Although the Double Black was a talented duo, their cards were limited in this world, they couldn’t go out freely to investigate without alerting their parents, they didn’t have enough time to build connections in the underground, no resources, no forces, and they had to work from scraps if they wanted anything useful. 

Dazai sighed, “Then we have a deal-” A voice cut him off.

“Wait, I can help with the Bee User,” Chuuya said. Dazai looked at them, displeased, but the redhead ignored him.

“You’re right. Right now, you’re the most reliable source we can get. I want at least to guarantee that you won’t get yourself killed first.” They reasoned.

“Fine, I’m in too,” Dazai added. It would be more work for them, but it could gain more trust from the Vigilante. He really hoped that this would be worth it.

Knuckle Duster glanced at them and extinguished the cigarette with one hand, “One more thing, brats.” He lowered himself to their eye level and took off his mask, showing off his nasty scar. “Please don’t think too harshly about my daughter. She is just unfortunate to have an incompetent fool as her father.”

“... What is her name?” Chuuya asked.

“Tamao, Oguro Tamao. My wife picked that name.” The old man smiled quietly.

-

“What a mess,” Dazai muttered to himself. Currently, the old man was still focusing on finding a way to get rid of the parasite without killing his daughter. The Double Black had volunteered to do the tracking and kept an eye on the Bee User for now.

The brunette thought about all the work waiting for him and sighed. He just wanted to cuddle with his dog and take a nap. He had thought this would be a quick investigation to cure his boredom but in the end, the work kept piling up.

At least today, they could have a break. Dazai would have Chuuya all for himself until the end of the day.

“Oi, Mackerel.” Chuuya walked back from their phone call. “We’re gonna have someone join us.”

“Huh?”

Saturday, 02:14 pm

Pop Step: KOICHI IS AN IDIOT!!!

Me: ?? What’s happened

Pop Step: I’m so embarrassed

Can you talk right now? It’s a long story to type

Me: <incoming call>

Actually, do you want to meet in person? The mall I’m currently in is near Koichi’s place.

Pop Step: Sure!

“He asked that Makoto girl to pretend to be his girlfriend!!” Pop Step shouted as she gripped her cup of bubble tea. 

The three of them + a big pulshie were sharing a table in the food court. The pink-haired girl was telling them about an event that had happened when she had gone to meet Koichi’s mom. Apparently, Koichi had asked his Makoto-senpai to pretend to be his girlfriend, but his mom had seen right through him and smacked him for lying.

“Then she started talking about how unreliable he was and how much trouble he got into imitating Heroes. I wanted to defend him, but Ahhh! How embarrassing!” The girl covered her blushing face, “His mom told me to speak up, but I panicked and ran off.”

“Sounds pathetic- Ouch!” Chuuya stomped on Dazai’s foot to stop him.

The brunette pouted hard. He gazed at Pop Step, as if to blame her for interrupting his time with his dog.

The pink-haired ignored his gaze and continued to complain to the redhead, “And you know what Koichi said about my outfit? The outfit we spent hours choosing? He said I looked ‘super casual’!!”

“Not great, not good, or even ‘look nice’! CASUAL! Who even says that?” Pop Step snapped the straw of her bubble tea.

“Do you expect that guy to understand etiquette? That guy’s mind is too simple for that.” Chuuya said as they ate the last fried potato. “Uh, this is good. I’m gonna get some more. Be right back.”

The redhead stood up and walked to buy another portion, leaving the other two at the table. 

Dazai, who had been turned into a third wheel in his own date hangout, was kinda annoyed with how things turned out. So he decided to take it on the cotton candy mopping in front of him.

“How embarrassing~ All of these complaints and whinings for a guy that doesn't have eyes for you. But are you even like him? Or do you just want his attention? What do they call it? Oh, a pick-me girl.” Dazai said mockingly.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY, PUNK?!!” Pop Step shouted, but then realized that she was attracting attention, so she tuned it down. “So even if I am? The one I am complaining with is Chuuya, not you!”

“My problem is that you’re ruining our quality time by being a third wheel."

“Third wheel?” Pop Step smirked, “Then why did Chuuya ask me to come? Obviously, she doesn’t think the same as you. A brat that can’t even ask someone he likes out for a date doesn’t have the right to lecture me.”

Dazai gasped. The two started to throw insults at each other, and soon the situation escalated as they grabbed each other like toddlers. 

“Your singing sucks!”

“You're a pretentious jerk that nobody likes!”

“Hey! Hey! What’s going on?” Chuuya came back to the scene of Dazai grabbing Pop’s hair, and the pink-haired one was grabbing his collar. “Stop it! People are looking!”

After a threat of being kicked out by the security team, the two finally stopped but no matter how Chuuya asked, they didn’t tell them the reason for their fight.

The redhead sighed, “I don’t know what happened, but don’t listen to what Dazai said. He just likes to annoy others when he’s cranky.”

“You don’t know yet, you assume that it’s my fault?” The brunette felt betrayed.

“‘Cause you always start shit!” They calmly said.

Pop Step looked at the boy with a smug face and received a hiss that was similar to a demon’s.

“Oh, huss, don’t be a sore loser. By the way, I have something to give you guys.” The pink-haired took out her phone and sent a folder into their group chat. “Back when you guys told us that the dealers could appear around the Instant Villains, I started to take photos of the surrounding crowd every time Koichi and I came across one. Not sure how much this album can help, but here it is.”

Dazai raised his brow and opened the folder. His brown eyes scanned through the photos with an inhuman speed while his mind sought for all types of information. The clothes, the actions, and every gesture of bystanders were taken into account, and one thing definitely caught his eye.

“This uniform. Do you know which school it comes from?” He pointed at a group of high schoolers.

“It’s a girls-only private school in the area. Many students from there use Naruhata’s station, so they tend to get caught in the attacks.” Pop answered.

These uniforms appeared multiple times in these photos, and a figure kept lingering in the eye flied of the attack. The photo had been taken from the high ground, so he couldn’t see the face, but the brown-orange short hair was exactly what he needed to confirm it.

“You just saved me hours of hacking through the local high schools’ data. Maybe you aren’t that much of a lame singer.” Dazai saved the picture and noted down the name of the school.

“Hey! Stop bad mouthing other people, brat!” Pop Step yelled at him.

Suddenly, all three phones received a call at the same time. It was a group call from their chat. On the screen was the name ‘The Crawler’.

“You take it, Chibi.” Dazai turned off his phone and stole a chip from Chuuya’s plate.

The redhead rolled their eyes and answered the call, “What’s it, Crawler? Oh, I’m here with Mackerel and Pop, by the way.”

“... Say what now? A cat stole a freaking what?!!”

Koichi followed the two women as he carried multiple bags in his hands. He looked as calm as a Buddha despite being scolded by his mother less than two hours ago.

The mother was chatting with Makoto, “I haven’t been in the city since forever. Everything is so lively, it’s good to visit every now and then. Also thank you, Makoto, for joining us today. Even though my son talked you into such nonsense. Pretending to be his girlfriend? As if someone so mature and well put together would date my foolish son.”

“It’s fine, I think he just wants to impress you. But he’s doing well in school, as his senpai, I’m keeping an eye on him, madam.”

The two women continued to enjoy chatting as they walked through the tourist attractions.

After Koichi’s lie was discovered, Makoto had managed to calm down the situation by suggesting that they could go out for a short tour while talking things out and enjoyed themselves at the same time. Therefore, they decided to take a half-day tourist bus that runs daily. And the first stop was a nearby shrine.

“Tokyo’s sure changed after all this time. Oh, I nearly forgot to pick up a souvenir for your father.” Koichi’s mother walked toward the gift shop next to the shrine.

“We still have some time until the bus starts again. Let’s look around” Makoto checked her phone.

Koichi also followed them while mumbling, “I should get something for Pop, she seemed upset when she ran off and- OH MY GOD! Are those All Might collaboration merch?!”

The fanboy got excited and flushed over the display of All Might toys and clothes sections.

The seller greeted the potential customer, “Great eyes, mister! We have the newest exclusive All Might blind boxes and the merch that you can find only at this store. Like this shrine collaboration hoodie over here, this is the only one left.”

“Really?” Koichi gasped.

Makoto checked the hoodie, “I don’t know if Heroes would collaborate with shrines. Heroes such as All Might would likely avoid being associated with religious or political stuff. Is this actually real merch?”

The seller pulled the hoodie away from her, “Ah… well, of course, it’s real. If you don’t want to buy it, then please don’t touch the merchandise.” He then turned to Koichi, “We’re having a discount, if you buy five blind boxes, you get a discount on the last exclusive hoodie.”

Koichi prepared to take out his wallet, but his mother smacked him.

“Don’t tell me you’re still wasting money on garbage like that. I thought you had grown over all this stuff, dreaming about Heroes and all those unrealistic things."

“Um- I’m just looking.”

“It’s nearly time to catch the tour bus. We should go.” Makoto said, and the mother and son duo followed her.

When waiting to get on the bus, Koichi felt a bit reckless in his skin. He kept gazing back at the souvenir shop.

“... Actually. I forgot something. I’ll be right back.” He ran off despite his mom calling him.

Almost tripping over a cat on his way, he managed to get back to the shop to purchase the figures and the hoodie. Happily putting the figures into his backpack, he hugged the hoodie and turned back to the bus’s direction. 

His mother and Makoto had gone up the bus first and were waiting for him. Standing at the end of the tour line, he then saw the cat, that he had nearly tripped over, jump up the white bus. Koichi was originally worried the cat could fall if the bus started, but something really blizzard happened.

The cat blended into the bus, a strange orange fur pattern appeared, and soon covered the entire white tourist bus. The bus grew eyes, cat ears, a mouth, and it screamed. The door slammed shut at the tourist in front of him, stopping them from entering and trapping the insider.

“MEOWWW!!” The cat bus yelled and ran away with the people inside.

“What?!” Not understanding what was happening? But Koichi quickly put on the hoodie and ditched his stuff on the side of the road.

The cat bus ran up in a random direction while breaking dozens of traffic laws. Koichi could keep up with its speed, but the problem was how to stop it and evacuate the people inside to safety. Following the bus closely, Koichi dodged a nearby car and took out his earpiece.

Inside the bus, Makoto was gripping the bus seat and trying to calm down Koichi’s mom, sitting next to her.

“It will be fine. The distress call was sent, and the Heroes will soon get here.” She said with her heart beating like crazy. Makoto looked out the window and prayed that she could spot a Hero, but instead she saw…

“The Cruller?”

Ending his call, Koichi was still following the bus’s tail. He needed to do so that the others could track the location of his phone and arrive to help.

He bit his lips. The bus would soon enter a busy road if it continued to go in this direction. The Crawler ran next to the bus and leaped up like a frog to grab the door handle. Sticking to the side of the bus like a gecko, Koichi tried to pull open the door, but with no luck.

Suddenly, he heard an engine sound. A man in white knight armor was heading toward him.

“Turbo Hero Ingenium! On the scene!” The man in white yelled. In seconds, the man caught up and gripped the door open using the engines in his arms.

The Hero gazed at the Vigilante but didn’t say anything, only focused on getting inside.

“Is anyone getting hurt?” The Hero asked the passengers inside, before turning to the driver, “What’s the situation?”

“T-the brakes and steering aren’t working!” 

Koichi looked worriedly at the Hero and wanted to tell him that if they couldn't stop the bus, they would head toward the center urban area.

<Crawler, you need to lure the bus to the outskirts.>

“Da-Azure?” Koichi pressed his earpiece.

<You need to buy time so that Rouge can be there on time.> On the other side, Dazai was having the city map on his laptop’s screen and the city’s trafficking system on another tab. <I will clear the way for you, just need to follow my lead and make sure to keep the cat bus chasing you. Can you do it?>

“Um- well.” The Crawler gazed at the Hero.

<No time, make sure the bus turns left at the next turn. GO!>

Koichi jumped down the street and ran to the front of the cat bus. Still terrified, but the Vigilante knew that if he didn’t do something, there would be a crash soon or later. He pulled the cat’s whiskers to annoy it and ran away, following Dazai’s instruction.

With the cat following him, Koichi ran through the streets and headed to the suburbs. Thankfully, all the traffic lights were green for him, and all the traffic was stopping on time to make way for him. Koichi did not doubt that the brunette kid was behind this.

Ingenium didn’t understand why this Vigilante could do something like this, but it bought him enough time to think of a solution.

<Crawler. Ignore the incoming construction signs and turn to the right.> Dazai said, <You will be entering a halfway construction highway, but it will buy you enough time.>

“Are you sure? What if Rouge couldn’t make it on time?!”

<Then the backup of the Hero will take care of it.>

“What backup?” Koichi asked, then he saw a truck waiting for them with lines of staff at the start point of the highway. The truck then ran alongside the bus with the back doors wide opened.

“Ingenium! We got your order! We’re ready to transfer the passengers over here!” The sidekick on top of the truck said.

“Order? I didn’t- Never mind, get Long-Arms to help transfer the passengers over.” The Hero said and instructed his sidekick to use their long arms Quirk to grab the passengers from the bus and put them on the truck.

Koichi was relieved for a moment. However, when the last passenger was about to transfer, the cat startled and slammed its tail on the truck and sped up with the last person in it. The cat bus was so fast that Koichi had jump aside to dodge it.

“KYA!!” A familiar voice screamed.

“MAKOTO!” Koichi quickly followed the bus.

“I’m on it!” The engine Hero yelled and followed them. While still unsure about this vigilante activity of this young man, Ingenium thought that he couldn’t do all of this alone without the guy’s help until now. Especially when the bus was heading toward the halfway bridge road, and could fall down with the civilians.

“Hey! Crawler, right?! Sorry, but can you help me?” The Hero asked while running next to him, “Use yourself as bait like before so that I can land an attack.”

Surprised that a Hero was asking for help, Koichi nodded and agreed right away, “Got it!”

With Koichi distracting the cat bus, Ingenium put all the force on his engine to land an ultimate move.

“RECIPRO BURST!” The kick wasn’t strong enough to stop the bus, but it slowed it down so that Koichi could enter the inside and grab Makoto.

“I’M HERE!” He shouted, unaware that his hood had split off.

“Cruller… Koichi?!” Makoto was shocked, whether it was about the revelation or the fact that she was about to fall to her death.

Koichi grabbed her and carried her in his arms. At the same time, on the outside, Ingenium was witnessing the bus leaping through the broken bridge and used all the juice in his engine to jump over to reach the Crawler. Koichi also jumped off the bus to grab his hands.

Ingenium reached out mid-air.

The Crawler raised his hands to grab the other's hand… and missed.

Koichi fell.

His Quirk, which helped him to create a force to push him forward and gave him amazing speed on the surface, couldn't help him this time… Or is it?

The blood rushed in his brain, and with his force of will between death and life, Koichi carried Makoto in his arms and pushed forward. The force pushed out his feet, and he shot up like a rocket. 

In the blink of an eye, Koichi and Makoto flew over the other side of the bridge, falling straight to the concrete ground.

Yet they never hit the hard ground.

“Koichi!” Makoto rushed to him after she landed. Landing next to her was the Turbo Hero, whose engines started making weird noises.

“You should really learn how to land… but first of all, what the fuck was that!” A petite figure with a hoodie stood on the floating bus that was covered in red light. That light also covered Koichi and Makoto to soften their falls just now.

“Rouge! You made it!... Wasn’t that you just now?” Koichi scratched his head as he sat on the ground, calming his poor heart.

“Well, I was on the bus when it fell, but you didn’t notice me with all the adrenaline. But I didn’t use my Quirk until you started landing. Since when could you fly?” Chuuya jumped off the bus after collecting the Quirked cat that possessed the bus.

“... I have no clue?” 

“Ahem.” Their attention turned to the Hero, “As a law enforcer, I have a duty to report and arrest the illegal Quirk Users. Too bad that I didn’t encounter anyone.” The engine Hero gave them a knowing smile.

Koichi blinked. Chuuya continued to pet the frightened cat in their arms and asked, “You’re saying that you will overlook this?”

“Oh! Really? Thank you!” Koichi beamed.

“No, thank you, Crawler. Be careful from now on, alright?” 

After that, Koichi and Makoto headed back to check on Koichi’s mother while Chuuya left with the cat.

“I can’t believe that Makoto knows about our secret.” Pop Step complained, “How can you trust her not to sell us out?”

“She won’t.” Koichi assured her, “Come on, there is no point in worrying about it. Help me figure out how to do that sky jumping move!” 

The group had gathered once again after Koichi’s mother went back home. Koichi was excited to practice his new move, but failed to perform it again after many trials. All he could do was lift himself 30 centimeters off the ground.

“Maybe it’s because you were in a life and death situation.” Chuuya shared their guess. “So? What are you waiting for? Jump.” They pointed to the edge of the roof.

“... You know, I understand your intention, but it sounds like you’re implying something else." Koichi gazed awkwardly at the redhead.

Chuuya rolled their eyes, “No pain, no gain. How can you get better if you don’t face death regularly?” They then pushed the college boy toward the edge.

“Wait, wait, wait! Can we try other ways first?!!” Koichi tried to run off, but felt a heavy pressure on his body as he was moved toward the balcony.

The young Vigilante was saved by the door leading to the rooftop apartment. It was slammed open loudly as Knuckle Duster entered with a cage in his hands. Koichi was relieved at the new presence and hoped that he could find a way to escape.

“Master! What are you haAAAAAHH!!” Chuuya kicked the boy’s back and successfully pushed him off the rooftop.

The redhead activated their Quirk to slow down when the guy was a couple of meters off the ground. When Chuuya pulled him up like a fish rope, Koichi was as white as a ghost and appeared to have fainted.

“Koichi!” Pop Step jumped over to check on him after he was laid down on the ground.

On the other side, the old man handed the cat’s cage and a folder to the nearest person, which was Dazai, “My underground doctor wasn’t happy that I gave her a cat, but she did find quite a large amount of Trigger in its blood.”

“They are testing on animals now?!” Chuuya said angrily when they walked over.

“Quirked animals have a long history of being test subjects,” Dazai said as he opened the folder. “In fact, many countries have rules to hand over Quirked animals for national labs. In Japan, that rule was changed after a bear thingy managed to achieve many political positions and became a principal of a hero school. Of course, the changed rule could only protect the animal if they reach a certain level of intelligence.”

“So we can’t leave this one in a shelter?” Chuuya opened the cage with the scared cat. It looked at them warily and curiously. The redhead smiled and raised their hand for it to sniff.

“My mom is allergic to animal hair.” Chuuya said, “Can we leave it in your place?”

“I mean, sure, but most of the time, nobody is at home,” Dazai said.

The cat finished sniffing Chuuya’s hand and crawled out of the cage to let the ginger pet it.

“If you leave it at my place, you would have kept it away from my things.” Knuckle Duster said before going away for a smoke.

“... Is that his way to tell us that we can freely use his place?” Chuuya wondered. The cat meowed and jumped over them to get to the mouse plushie. It clawed into the soft material and stomped on it before using it as a bed.

In the karaoke room, two men were sitting lifeless on the leather sofa.

“La la la~ Whoa 97 points!” A young girl with orange-brown hair said happily, “How about it?”

The men were still sitting there with their heads bowed down. Bees were coming in and out of their opening mouths. Their eyes were moving, but if you looked closer, there was no light in them, only the sound of something digging and having a feast inside.

“What a boring crowd!” The girl whined. She naturally took one guy’s wallet and threw it away after collecting the cash and the credit card.

A ping lit up from her phone.

<Hachisuke, we need you to go to the lab number 06-02 on XX street. They have some samples that need to be tested.>

“This again, why can’t we have something more exciting?” Hachisuke asked, “Why can’t we let those things out once in a while? Wrenching stuff and having fun.”

<If you do well with the currently job, we can consider giving you a disposable test subject to do as you please.>

“Now we’re talking.” Hachisuke jumped up as she ended the call.

“Doing fun things without your old daddy nagging you like some guard dog. This is life!” A tear dropped down her face, “Oh, why are you crying! With me, no day is boring; I have got rid of all the people who stop you from having your ultimate freedom. Isn’t this what you want?” 

“Such a noisy flesh bag. You should be grateful that I haven’t ditched you for a new one.” The girl paid for the karaoke room with stolen money and walked away to find a new prey.

Chapter Text

“Is wet or dry food better?... Never mind, I just grab both to see if he likes it.” A hand stretched to grab multiple colorful bags and cans into their cart. Next to the new pile of cat food were toys, a soft cushion, and treats.

“A cat couldn’t possibly need this much stuff. Also, how do you plan to afford all of these, Chibi?” Dazai 

Chuuya shrugged before conveniently 'stealing’ Dazai’s wallet. Inside were a few bank cards with different foreign names. Most of the money in these was earned by Dazai’s money trading activities on the illegal stock market and cryptocurrency. Everything was done and stored under a shell company in another country. 

The redhead had asked their partner why he couldn’t find a more genuine hobby to do in his free time. Did he miss the mafia’s worklife that much? Dazai had denied and said that it was to cure his boredom and to have something to fall on if something went wrong in their civilian lives. Chuuya had been confused about what could go wrong, but then realized that the Mackerel were probably implying their new ‘families’. 

For some reason, Dazai always felt that this new life was a temporary thing, and it could collapse anytime if their parents found out the truth about their kids. To be honest, it had never crossed Chuuya’s mind that things would come to that. Even though neither of their parents was perfect, they loved them, no way would they just deny them for what? A past life in another dimension? Not to mention who would believe that. Seriously, the Mackerel was just being paranoid.

Back to the present, the brunette didn’t stop them from taking his wallet, but still couldn’t pass up a chance to get on the other’s nerves.

“I don’t want to keep it so why do I have to pay child support?” Dazai said out loud intentionally. A nearby housewife snapped at the middle schoolers with a scandalous look on her face.

Chuuya nearly dropped the card and quickly covered Dazai’s loud mouth, “What the heck?! Don’t phrase it like that! Do you have no shame?!” 

The brunette smirked at them, and Chuuya cursed under their breath. That was a stupid question. From the moment they met, this guy had a face as thick as a stonewall. 

Chuuya took a deep breath to calm their blushing face. The only way to deal with this shameless guy was to throw back his own trick at him. The redhead dropped the hand covering his mouth and instead wrapped it around his arm.

Chuuya leaned on Dazai and said with a honey-coated voice, “Don’t you want the best things for our child?” They blinked their big brown and blue eyes and puckered up their pink lips. 

… Dazai knew what they were trying to do, and he would be damned to let them win.

“So~ Daddy, don’t you want to take care of your family?” Chuuya said and immediately cringed at their own words. But there was no winning without sacrificing something, even if it was their dignity. The goal was to make Dazai feel embarrassed for all the times he teased them in public.

‘Ahhh! Why are you saying like that, Chuuya, you silly dog! You think I will fold by that act? You can’t make me flustered.’ That was what he should have said. However, at that moment, Dazai only felt an urge to kneel right here and buy every single cat product in this store for his petite partner. Before he could suppress the urge completely, he had handed over his wallet and the security codes for the cards.

Standing at his spot and watching the ginger skip away happily, Dazai wanted to slap himself 10 seconds ago for being a simp.

Chuuya didn’t know what had just happened, but they were pretty sure that they had won… somehow. On the way to the checkout section, the redhead grabbed a package of fresh crabs and dried pasta. In case the Mackerel wanted to complain later, they would use 'no crab dinner' card to shut him down.

After paying a long bill using Dazai’s money, the two headed back to Chuuya’s place to drop off the groceries and then went to the Vigilante’s headquarters, aka Koichi’s apartment. 

“Kitty! Come out, I bring you food and toys.” Chuuya dashed away to find the Quirked cat the moment they stepped into the rooftop apartment.

Dazai looked around to see only Koichi doing chores, and Pop Step looked troubled as she stared at her phone.

“Hey Koichi, where is the old man? Don’t you have a training session today?” He asked.

“You’re looking for Master? Then you just missed him, he left half an hour ago after receiving a phone call.” The young Vigilante said while washing his dishes.

On the other side, Chuuya was luring the cat out of a corner using a can of wet food. The cat looked curious at the bunch of stuff that they had brought. It blinked at a small fish toy before touching it and activating its Quirk. The fish toy grew orange fur, a tail, and its black plastic eye was replaced by a pair of yellow-green eyes. 

They and Dazai had done some tests on the cat, so they knew that this cat could possess non-living objects that were equal or smaller than its size. The only reason it could take over the bus that day had been because of the amount of Trigger boosting its Quirk.

“You are such a weird little thing.” Chuuya poked the fluffy fish/cat creature. They then poured the wet food into a dish and left it there for the cat. They turned around to see Pop Step sitting at the table, looking at an email on her phone in silence.

“What’s wrong?” They asked the girl as they came closer.

“... Someone sent me a performance request. They emailed through my blog, asking if I’d like to join some sorta live event on the department store roof near the station.” She showed the redhead her screen. On it was a professional email from the official store chain account. 

“Isn’t it a good thing?” Chuuya was confused as to why she was so troubled.

“Yeah, isn’t it great?” Koichi put away his dishes and congratulated her, “Super cool! It’s like you’re a real idol!”

“But… I ain’t sure if this is a good idea. Until now, people have only seen me as a street performer. I’ve never sung on an actual stage. What if I screw up?” Pop Step told the group.

“Don’t be like that, Pop. You have tons of fans out there to support you.” Koichi tried to cheer her up and lift her confidence. But a certain someone had a different approach.

“Whoa. For someone who is always telling everyone she is a real idol, you’re pretty self-aware.” Dazai said with a clear intention of pissing her off, and it worked.

“Hah!! What did you say? I’m a real idol, you tasteless punk!!” Pop Step took the bait and shouted at the brunette brat. 

“Then you have no problem joining the event without tripping over your own feet, right?”

“O-of course!” She yelled back.

Chuuya rolled their eyes as another person was being tricked by their mischievous partner. However, Pop Step did need a bit of a push, so they would let this slide.

The redhead turned to Koichi, “Yo, Koichi, step up as the only adult in the room and help her with this. Make sure it isn’t a scam and help her organize things.”

“Huh? Sure… but I don’t have much experience with these things.” The college student scratched his head.

“Just do it. The Mackerel and I have something else today.” Chuuya then said goodbye and dragged Dazai away, stopping him from pressing the teen girl’s buttons any longer.

The Double Black arrived at the Knuckle Duster’s storage building to find the old Vigilante, but failed to catch even his shadow.

“Yo, old man! Are you here?” Chuuya called into the dark storage, and the sound echoed back at them. 

“Ugh! That old fart didn’t even give us a proper way to contact him. How can we find him?” They still had the burner phone from the man, but Knuckle Duster changed his numbers too regularly, so they always had to wait for him to contact them first.

Dazai didn’t seem surprised that he wasn’t here. The brunette walked over the section of the room that had a desk, shelves of information folders, and a giant map of Naruhata taped on the wall.

The map was scripted with details of shady routines that drug dealers like to use or avoid. It seemed that the old man had been working with that Dabi guy to map out the potential routine of the Bee User. Dazai memorized the map in seconds while unlocking a drawer using a paper clip.

Inside was a stack of documents along with bottles and bottles of unlabeled painkillers. Dazai skimmed through the papers and found out that the documents had the stamp mark of a hospital in Naruhata. It was a mix of diagnoses, bills, and hospital visit notes from two years ago until now.

His dark brown eyes landed on the patient’s name.

“Interesting,” Dazai mumbled. He closed the hospital files and called his partner, who was checking out the motorcycle and the van in the storage.

“Chibi, I think I know where he is. But let’s stop somewhere first.”

Hydrangeas, daisies, and a sunflower in the middle. A bouquet symbolised perseverance, optimism, and a message of getting well soon. Yet flowers were never known for their long-lasting quality. 

Chuuya carried the bouquet while Dazai used his charm to win over the nurse so that they let them go into the long-stay patient rooms area. The young nurse was convinced that they were the family of someone named Mrs. Oguro and led them in.

“I’m glad that more people visit her, usually it’s only her husband.” The nurse seemed new to the job as she was way too comfortable to share patient’s information. “I hope you kids can tell the other family members to visit the poor woman before it-” She covered her mouth as she realized she had almost overstepped.

The nurse quickly left after leading them to a room at the end of the hall.

Chuuya played with a petal on the bouquet and asked, “‘Oguro’, huh? That’s the same family name as Knuckle Duster’s daughter, right?”

Dazai nodded, “The old man has been visiting his wife around this time of the week for the past two years. From the document, she was attacked and diagnosed with damage that affected her brain, which caused her to be paralysed and have a weak mental condition.”

“... You’re leaving out details.” Chuuya gazed accusingly at him, “Don’t treat me like some kind of weak heart, spill it out.”

The dark-haired shrugged, “It isn’t something that directly affected our case, but… well, his wife was found in a condition that was similar to Bee User’s victims. A dangerous amount of bee venom in her blood, one of her eyes being eaten out, which led to damage to her nervous system.”

Chuuya thought for a bit, “You think that the Bee User attacked the mother’s host using the daughter's body?”

“I think that the mother was nearby when the Bee User was in the middle of taking over the body and was attacked when she tried to save her. Then again, I’m just guessing, it isn’t something we need to dig too deep.” Dazai ended their talk by opening the door.

Inside the room, a tall man was sitting next to the patient’s bed and was talking with the unmoving body.

“-Your doctor really gave me a fright. Well, you know, you can’t always trust what doctors say. Look at me, how many said I was a lost case.” Knuckle Duster laughed to humor his wife, but in his eyes, there were many repressed emotions.

The woman on the bed didn’t seem to be aware of her surroundings as she just stared at one direction and mumbled meaningless things. Suddenly, she gazed over her husband and spoke up with a rusty voice.

“Tamao, please go home, don’t stay out too late… ” She looked at the newcomer with her only eye.

“Eh? I’m not-” Chuuya was a bit startled, but then remembered the photo of Knuckle Duster’s daughter, the girl had a brown orange hair. The color was duller and less vibrant than Chuuya’s red-hair but to someone in this mental state, it was better not to question their view.

Knuckle Duster chuckled and pulled up the blanket on his wife’s bed, “These are just some brats that I’ve been babysitting. Don’t worry about Tamao, I’ll take care of her.”

“We’re gonna be okay.” He promised as he stood up and waved the duo to go out of the room.

The last one to leave was Chuuya as they were trying to arrange the bouquet in a nearby vase. 

“Your dad also worries about you a lot.” The fragile woman on the bed whispered. Her eye lingered on the red-haired, unfocused.

“...” Chuuya finished setting the vase and bowed quietly to the woman. Didn't know what to say, so they left.

“What are you kids doing here?” The old man asked after they walked out of the hospital together. “Also, how do you know I am here?”

“I saw your hospital visiting notes in the warehouse. We’re trying to reach you all day.” Dazai said, “I need to tell you about new leads.”

The brunette handed him a file that included the photo of a student with short brown orange hair under the name Hachisuka. In the photo, Tama's body was smiling at them with her hair covering her left eye.

“It isn’t even trying to hide. Hachi 蜂 (kanji for bee, wasp, hornet), really?” Chuuya said.

“For what I’ve gathered. Hachisuka is a student in the girl-only high school in the North of Naruhata. No solid background, has a history of jumping from one area to another. She has been in this area for a few months now, so there is a high chance that she could skip town soon. We need to act quickly if we want to catch her off guard.”

“I have a plan to sneak into the school and find a way to lure her out so we can capture her, but the main problem is that we have to have a method to separate the parasite without killing the host.” Dazai explained his plan, “Tell me that you at least have something after two years of searching.”

“Cheeky brats, hijacking my mission and throwing orders around,” The old man complained, but gave in anyway. “There are a few ways to do it. We need someone skilled enough to perform medical surgery, or we can put the Queen Bee in a position that it has to leave the body of its own will.”

“But didn’t you say it only leaves when the host is-” Chuuya didn’t say the word 'dead' but they all understood it.

“The second method is risky. Let’s say that you can put the host in a clinical death state and revive her later. There is a lot of potential risk.” Dazai commented on his plan.

“I know that,” Knuckle Duster grunted. “But it’s impossible to capture her safely and transfer her to a clinic in time.”

“That is true… unless you have me.” Dazai pointed to himself. “The Queen Bee is a Quirk at the end of the day. From all the information you gave me, Queen Bee acts similarly to a mind control Quirk. My nullification Quirk would allow me to shut down its hive mind control center so that we can transfer her.”

The old Vigilante thought about his plan for a long minute, “... You said something about luring her out?”

Dazai nodded, “Yup, we need to borrow some of your stuff and the minivan to transfer the girl.”

“Well, I have a few things you can use. But I don’t trust you brats with the van, you can’t even reach the brake. I’ll drive.”

“Oi!” A certain long-haired puppy was sensitive about their height.

The security guard was reading a newspaper when she spotted two female students standing near the fence. The first thought that crossed her mind was that these two were planning to skip school.

“Hey, hey! What are you two doing there? Go back to class or I'll call your teacher.” She yelled. The two students acted startled as if they had been caught in mid-act and walked hurriedly back to the building.

“You think she saw us get in?” A short girl with shoulder-length black hair asked. She had a long bang covering her left eye, leaving a brown-red eye to see.

“No, she thought that we were planning to get out.” Her companion answered. The other student was a taller girl with long brown hair, and she wore an oversized cardigan over her uniform.

If you listened to the tall girl’s voice clearly, you would hear a suppressed undertone. It was because these two were none other than our beloved Double Black. What better way to sneak into a girls' school than pretending to be a student there?

Chuuya adjusted their wig to make sure it covered their blue eye. The uniform was a little too big for them, and they hoped other people wouldn’t notice how young they looked, too young to be a freshman in high school. And for Dazai’s disguise.

“I don’t think all that makeup is necessary.” The redhead pointed at the heavy makeup on Dazai’s face. Eyelashes, blushes, lipstick, and massacres. Didn’t school usually ban these types of makeup?

“Are you jealous that I’m a prettier schoolgirl than you, Chu-chu?” Dazai curved his lips at the nickname while flipping his long wig. This action caused his fake, colorful nails to get stuck to his wig, and he then had to carefully untangle each strand of hair.

“It ain’t a competition… And if this were, I would win.” Chuuya declared as they ignored Dazai’s asking for help, “However, we need to blend in.”

“Relax, you’re worried too much,” Dazai said as he finished pulling the nails off.

They stopped at a second-year classroom. The students inside were sitting in a group with their bentos on the desks because it was lunchtime. Dazai knocked on the door to gather attention and said out loud.

“Ah, excuse me. I’m looking for Hachisuka-senpai. Is she here today?” He said with a sweet voice.

The students looked around until a black-haired girl with a bun stood up and walked toward them. 

“Sorry, but what business do you have with her?” She asked with a suspicious voice.

“She lent us something the other day when we were in trouble, so we want to return it to her,” Dazai asked with an innocent smile.

“Then you’re out of luck. She hasn’t been to school for three days.”

Chuuya clicked their tongue, “Can’t you start with that?”

The girl gazed at them, “You can’t bang in here and demand things. Actually… I’ve never seen you here before. Do you even go here?”

Before his fiery partner came up with a comeback. Dazai dismissed the situation and left with Chuuya in tow.

“If Hachisuka-senpai isn’t here, then we would have to catch her another time. Thanks for your time.” Dazai waved back and disappeared at the corner of the hallway.

“What's wrong with them?” The black-haired girl complained. Suddenly, a blonde girl in her class bumped into her as she exited the room.

“Ouch! Where are you going?” Black-haired asked her classmate, but she didn’t answer.

Inside an empty bathroom, Chuuya and Dazai were discussing what their next move would be.

“What now?” Chuuya leaned on the stinker.

“Let’s-” Before Dazai could continue, someone pushed the bathroom door. It was a blonde girl who looked pale and sick. The brunette realized this was a student in Hachisuka’s class.

Seeing the girl staring at them for a long, awkward moment without saying anything, Chuuya asked with an unfriendly tone. “Can we help you?”

“You are looking for Hachisuka?” She said with a weak voice.

“Yes… Do you know something?” Dazai tried to test the water. Something wasn’t right about this girl. The dark circles under her eyes, her soulless stares, the stillness in her form. He glanced at Chuuya and signaled them to be alert.

“W-why are you looking for her?”

Chuuya narrowed their eyes, “None of your business. If you don’t have anything to say, then don’t waste our time.” They put their hand into their pocket to grab a metal object.

“... I-I don’t know. It told me to go after you… N-nobody is here.” The girl mumbled nonsense and looked around paranoid, “Yet I keep hearing it.”

“Hearing what exactly?” Dazai asked slowly not to trigger the girl.

“The buzzing. Can’t you hear it?” She tilted her head to an empty space, “It’s so loud. So loud. So loud. So loud. So loud. So loud. So loud. So loud. So loud. So loud. So loud-”

The mumbling sound soon blended into an incoherent chain of words. The girl started pulling her hair and dug her nails deep into her scalp. The next scene literally came straight out of a horror movie as bees crawled out of her eyes’ sockets and her mouth.

Feeling the hair on their neck stuck up like being electrocuted. Chuuya threw the metal object that they kept in their pocket. It was a can of bug spray made specifically for bees and hornets that Knuckle Duster had given them. 

Chuuya controlled the gravity of the can so that it was crushed and exploded the moment the bees came at them. Dazai used this distraction to grab his partner and escape the bathroom. He needed to be in contact with Chuuya in case the bees carried Trigger. Unfortunately, the bug spray didn’t manage to hold the swarm of bees very long as they quickly flew after them. 

Running through the hallway, Dazai stopped to punch the glass surrounding the fire alert button. He hit the button with his bloody hand before continuing to run with Chuuya. The sprinklers activated, and the bees did slow down significantly. As the crowd of students evacuated in panic, the duo easily blended into the crowd and escaped the school building. 

After informing a teacher that a student had fainted in the bathroom, the Double Black sneaked away and climbed over the fence.

A block away, a van was parked neatly in a corner, waiting. Chuuya opened the back doors aggressively and pushed Dazai in first.

“That fucking insect saw us coming,” Chuuya cursed. In the driver's seat was Knuckle Duster, the old man was smoking while waiting for them.

“Hum,” The old man didn’t seem too upset. “I’ve been chasing that thing for two years. You newbies can’t hit the jackpot the first time.” He then held a cigarette with his teeth and started the van.

“Besides, it’s quite smart since it adapts my daughter's intelligence, ya know.” He seemed oddly proud.

“Don’t praise it! This isn’t the situation to be proud of your kid! The Bee User could have killed a student.” Chuuya snarked back and closed the divider between the front seats and the cargo space.

As the van slowly drove off, Chuuya grabbed some tissue and first aid that they had brought, while Dazai removed his cardigan and complained about his fashion choice.

“Maybe heavy eye makeup wasn’t a good idea.” Dazai pulled out the eyelashes that stuck grossly on his face due to the water. “And the nails too.”

“I told you so. Now come here and give me your hand.” The redhead held Dazai’s injured hand and cleaned it with antiseptic. They then familiarly wrapped the bandage over the litter of small cuts as if they had done a hundred times. Dazai hummed a happy tune when Chuuya moved on to clean his face.

“Be still. Or the mascara would smudge into your eyes.” Chuuya held his chin.

“Do I look pretty though?” Dazai closed his eyes to avoid the tissue poking in.

The redhead stared at the face in front of them. Fair skin, tall nose, an angled face, but still had a bit of baby face, the makeup was washed away mostly, a bit of lipstick and blush were still able to highlight the natural beauty features. Combining the long wig and the uniform, Dazai could easily pass as a beautiful schoolgirl.

There had been a few times, Chuuya had imagined what it would be like if Dazai had been born female instead of them. To be honest, even in that imaginary scenario, their roles weren’t changed that much. Chuuya would still have been the protector, and Dazai would still be the strategist, the Mackerel would still push heavy lifting on them no matter what. The only difference would have been that they would have punched Dazai less.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re pretty.” Chuuya answered honestly. To them, Dazai was beautiful no matter what gender he was. “You’re also a pretty little shit.” That was also true.

Dazai chuckled, “Well~ I always think you’re the prettiest chibiko in all the dimensions.”

Against their will, Chuuya blushed hard. “D-don’t call me Chibi!” 

After changing out the disguises, the two tried to figure out what to do next.

“So what now? Should we figure out her dealing routine and ambush her?” Chuuya said with uncertainty.

“No, there is no point in repeating a failed tactic twice.” Dazai shook his head. “Give me some time, I’ll come up with something. Don’t worry your pretty head about it.”

“Stop calling me pretty,” Chuuya mumbled.

“So remember that you told me to help Pop with the performance thing? I went and asked someone with experience about it.” Koichi told them when the duo entered his apartment.

Chuuya blinked at their recent acquaintance. Dazai tilted his head, smiling as he smelled drama. Pop Step looked shocked and irritated at both Koichi and the newcomer.

The person he asked was Tsukauchi Makoto, the one who had wanted to investigate the Naruhata Vigilantes and later on discovered the Crawler’s true identity after the cat bus accident.

“Just leave it to your big onee-san, alright!” She declared with full confidence. Makoto then shook Pop Step’s hand to greet her.

“Looking forward to working with you, Pop.”

“What?! Wh-who is Pop?! I don’t know her!” The pink-haired denied. But there was no point in that, if she already knew about Koichi’s identity, then it was easy to figure out the other Vigilantes that followed him around. The Double Black had been avoiding the public eye for this reason. Chuuya only helped the Vigilantes when it was necessary, so the majority didn’t even know Rouge existed, let alone Azure, who only stayed in the shadows.

“Koichi! Come here!” Pop Step shoved the other violently out the door for a ‘private’ discussion. The scolding was echoing through the thin wall, but the insiders ignored it.

“Oh! What about the other Vigilante with the metal knuckles? Is he here today?” Makoto asked the duo.

“No, he is busy today,” Dazai answered. “Is that why you’re here? To know more about other Vigilantes?”

“Nah, don’t worry about it, kids. I promise not to breathe a word about your masked activities to anyone. That’s me protecting my sources.” Makoto said. “This whole thing is basically a job to me.”

“Aren’t you doing the PR thing for Captain Crappy? Do you have time for this?” Chuuya asked.

She didn’t seem bothered that Chuuya offended her boss, “This is actually a part of my PR management. Let’s wait for Koichi and Pop to come back, and then I’ll explain.”

After Pop Step had calmed down from being exposed by her kinda love rival, Makoto asked everyone to gather around for a discussion.

“Thank you for having me today. When Koichi told me about the event, I saw an opportunity for both of us. First off, according to the mail Pop received. You’re invited to perform at a free live event hosted by a department store. It’s the Naruhata branch of the Marukane chain of supermarkets. This is basically a reopening after a recent Villain attack. The building was damaged heavily, so they have been closing it for repairs.”

“The event will be held on the rooftop of the store; it’s an open space that can hold up to 300 people. No tickets will be sold because the store wants the locals to freely enter to advertise that the store is open again. There will also be new food court stations on the rooftop area. It’s like a performance where you can get lunch while listening to a live show.”

“That sort of show, huh? Like a festival.” Koichi said.

Makoto nodded, “Yup, and because it’s a local event. They want to invite the amateurs and indie performers. The event is low-cost so they cut costs with local talents. You can think of it as a neighborhood karaoke tournament."

“Sounds easy enough, right Pop?” Koichi turned to ask the girl and saw her mumbling annoyedly.

“‘Karaoke,’ she says… is she making fun of me?” Pop Step said quietly to herself before leaning over to whisper to Chuuya, “Hey, do you think I should accept her help?”

Chuuya shrugged, “She seems to know what she is doing. You won’t get that much help even if you ask me. Osamu is hard to motivate with these kinds of things, and Koichi is… well, Koichi.”

“... I half-heartedly agree then.” Pop Step signed and shook Makoto’s hand.

Makoto chuckled, “No worries. It’s not an easy thing to rely on someone you hardly know. But you can trust me with this, I wasn’t just saying when I told you that it is a job to me. So I take it very seriously.”

She showed them her phone, and on the screen was her email to the Captain Celebrity Corporation. “I have the approval from my boss for a sponsorship deal.”

“The C.C.C. will collaborate with the department store. We’ll increase the fund for equipment, staff, and the budget of the entire event. In return, C.C. will be credited for his cooperation.” She explained. “It’s a marketing strategy. This way, the Captain can earn more recognition from the locals, and the event will become even better and bigger using the name of a Pro Hero. The extra cost will fall to our agency, but we’ll make up for that with ad revenue.”

Makoto pumped up her fist, “After the deal is set. I’ll be a rep for C.C’s agency. Together we’ll make this concert one to remember!”

“T-that actually sounds great. Thank you.” Pop Step said. She was a teenager after all, having a chance to prove herself was like a dream to her.

“... Whoa. You’re good.” Chuuya didn’t really understand the marketing thing, but it sounded impressive. They turned over to the partner who had been quiet the whole time. “It’s rare to see you not comment on things, Mackerel. What's wrong?”

Dazai tapped his finger on the table, thinking something to himself. Suddenly, he pulled out a paper and wrote down a number.

“Actually, Chuuya’s mother here is a fashion designer. She has been doing clothes for events many times in the past. If you’re interested, you can check it out.” Dazai handed over the number of the studio that Ayano-san worked at.

“Alright, I’ll do that. Thank you.” Makoto received the paper.

“No problem. We’d love to help our friend and make this amazing event become a reality.” Dazai offered his widest smile. Charming and extremely fake.

You didn’t even need to be Chuuya to see how out of character Dazai was acting.

“What are you planning, demon brat?” Pop Step narrowed her eyes.

“Nothing~ is it hard to believe that I want to support my friend?” Daza fluttered his big brown eyes.

“Yes”, “Kinda?”, “Unless it’s about Chuuya.” From left to right were Chuuya, Koichi, and Pop.

“How could you doubt me?” Dazai swiped his nonexistent tears. “Let’s go home, Chibi. I need your crab pasta to overcome this betrayal.”

The redhead rolled their eyes, “You’re such a drama queen.” They turned to the rest of the group. “But we do need to come home for dinner. Text me if you need help with anything, alright?”

They said goodbye to the others and left the apartment. On the way home, Chuuya asked what that had been about.

“I’m thinking that if we can’t go after the Bee User directly, then why not make her come to us?” Dazai explained. “Remember all the attacks that were related to her? Most of them happened in crowded areas, where there were many civilians. Something tells me that she loves to create big and loud chaos.”

“... You’re planning to use the event to lure her out. Using all those participants as bait.” Chuuya received a nod confirming the plan.

“Don’t say as if we are actually gonna let them get hurt. We just need to seize her before anything happens.” Dazai didn’t think that using living people as bait was a big deal. “Why the frown? Have you gone soft after years living in peace?”

“Nonsense.” Chuuya tried to relax their face. “I just don’t want everyone to work hard for the event only for it to be ruined by some villain's attack.”

“Then we have to try our best for it not to happen, yeah?” Dazai held the other’s hand and rubbed his thumb on the gloves.

Captain Celebrity Japanese's official account.

 

Special reopening event! Captain Celebrity is coming to Marukane department store’s rooftop sky park! Joining him are local indie artists, right from the Naruhata neighborhood.

 

See you in 20 days at XXXX, Naruhata.

“I guess… It looks fun... Ah man, that thing that happened earlier pisses me off so much that I can’t enjoy things anymore.” The brown orange girl closed her phone. “Whatever. At least I know how to make it really fun.~”

The high school girl leaned back in the chair and enjoyed her drink. On the TV in the corner of the coffee shop, the news reported about a girl found dead in a school’s bathroom.

* 

* scroll down a little more

Chapter Text

“Is this where the event will be held?” Chuuya ducked under the construction frames. The rooftop area of the supermarket was still finishing its final repair process. Workers were setting up the food court stations and paving the floor.

Makoto had texted them to meet at the rooftop employee room. Pop Step would need to meet up with other local performers, and Chuuya had to help their mother to get the measurements for the stage costumes. Koichi was somewhat of Pop Step’s assistant because she needed support and Dazai…

“I’m here for fun and gag… Also, the free snack.” And that was what he did the moment he entered the room. He held the gummy bear bowl hostage and ate all the green ones.

Besides Chuuya’s gremlin partner, the other people seemed serious about what they were here to do.

“Welcome everyone, let’s start with basic information, shall we?” Makoto announced at the beginning of their meeting.

“This Marukane festival will include multiple performances and one final big performance by many talents together, which are all of you here today.” Makoto read her notes, “As one of the main sponsors, Captain Celebrity will be present at the event. Moreover, I have been contacted with other Heroes to see if they want to be there to support a Hero fellow from overseas and received a few positive responses. So you can expect to have some popular faces there.”

Most of the people in the room were excited about the fact that they would be performing for actual Heroes, but Chuuya was busy trying to steal a gummy from Dazai.

“Of course, the main attraction of the night will be the performers, who are you guys. Let’s introduce yourself, everyone.”

The quick introduction session could be summarized like this. Pop Step was a vocalist, and there was also a duo of underground idols singing with her. The idol group was identical twins with similar hairstyles. The older was Miu with side pony-tail on her left, the younger twin was Yu with a side pony-tail on her right. The dancers were four members of the East Naruhata High dance squad. The music would be performed by a local male band named Mad Hatter.

“Take a look. All 11 people here will perform in the special ensemble. The dancers and band are settled without any problem, but about the vocals…” Makoto thought about how to position the duo idols and Pop Step on the same stage.

“Having Pop in the center would create the best visual balance, but…”

“Hang on!” One of the idols, Miu, objected. “Then we’re just gonna come off as backup singers.”

“And her voice isn’t even that good.” Her sister, Yu, said.

Pop Step jumped up a bit when being called out. She couldn’t help but feel conscious being told straight to her face like that.

Makoto then debated the abilities of each person, “You’re right, but Pop definitely has the edge in terms of stage presence. She has experience dealing with large crowds and big performing spaces. You two, on the other hand, only sang in smaller venues, right? Then… Let’s put this issue on hold.”

“In the coming week, Pop will practice the performing song on her own while the twin will learn basic stage maneuvers from the dance squad.” Makoto drew the timeline on the whiteboard. “10 days before the event, we’ll gather together to decide on everyone's final positions.”

The meeting went smoothly with the C.C. manager’s guidance. Even Chuuya, who had experience dealing with teams and even an entire organization, agreed that this lady was good at leading people. After a clothes measure session, the group was dismissed and was told to meet in a week. 

“Makoto sent me an audio file of the song. I have to start practicing right away.” Pop Step declared after they went back to Koichi’s apartment. “I really hope that I get to sing in the center. I mean, my performance has a lot of dancing and bouncing around, so if I end up on the sideline, it would look like I don’t belong.”

“It won’t look symmetrical, you mean,” Chuuya commented while writing down the measurements of the costumes.

“Well, feel free to practice here, if you want.” Koichi said, “By the way, Master! Will you come to see the show?”

Knuckle Duster was polishing his metal knuckles on the other side of the room. The old man grunted a noise before responding, “No promises. Evil never rests, kids.”

“Um… Not like I need you to support me,” Pop Step pouted. But she seemed disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to come.

The old man stood up and put on his cloak. “I’d love to, kids, but duty calls.” He then patted Pop’s messy pink hair. “Just get out there and do your best. Blow them up.”

Knuckle Duster then left the room to start his usual patrol. A brunette boy sneaked out to follow him down the stairs.

“Aren’t you a supportive adult figure? Yet you didn’t object to the plan to use them as bait.” Dazai asked. He had been curious about the complicated feelings of this man toward the other Vigilantes.

Knuckle Duster insisted on keeping the others out of their actual crime investigation while still letting Koichi and Pop Step run around playing their little game of justice. If he had wanted the two to stay safe, he never should have approached Koichi and asked him to be his helper in the first place. Not to mention, the two weren’t actively helping the investigation; they only dealt with the surface Instant Villains’ fights. However, all those public fights, regular appearances, and eye-catching costumes made them well-known in the area.

“I guess that is the reason you keep them around and encourage their vigilante acts. The more people focus on the Crawler or Pop Step, the less people notice you.” Dazai said, “You use them to hide yourself. If there were only a lone suspicious Vigilante, the public and criminals would watch every move of yours. But with them around, you can slide the focus and have more freedom to do things in the background.”

The older man hummed and didn’t deny his guess, “That’s one of the reasons, yeah.”

“And what’re the others?” Dazai tilted his head.

“That’s between Koichi and me. A smartass brat like you has no business in it.” The man’s heavy boots hit the pavement. “Are you planning to join me or what? I’ll teach you how to throw a punch or two.”

The brunette shrugged. He sent a text to his partner and followed the old man to his patrol.

17 days left until Naruhata's festival.

“~Marukane, Marukane

What’re you waiting for?~

Everyone is waiting for you

At the market~ C’mon.”

Pop Step was singing and dancing to the melody while wearing her headphones. Completely focused and ignored her surroundings.

“... How long has she been singing this?” Chuuya asked Koichi. The college student smiled helplessly.

“Every single day. She spent every weekday afternoon and the weekend at my place. You would think that she lives here with the amount of time she stayed over. I even bought new groceries to learn how to make her favorite dishes.”

“How patient of you. If I have to listen to a song about overconsuming over and over again, I would rather jump in front of a bus.” Dazai said.

“You would do that for fun anyway.” Chuuya glanced at him. “Also, we need to leave soon if we don’t want to be late… And don’t touch the boxes!”

The redhead snapped at their partner, who tried to touch the floating boxes. These boxes containing the costumes for the performers, and Chuuya had to bring them to the meeting for the first sizing session, if the clothes didn’t fit, their mom’s studio could fix it in time.

“I’m just teasing you… Boop.” The red light disappeared, a box dropped, and Chuuya threw the one they were carrying at him.

After a mouse and cat chase, everyone, including Dazai, each had to carry a box by hand to the destination. They managed to reach the meeting place on time. Inside, there were members discussing something with a heavy atmosphere. One of them was weeping on a chair.

“I’m sorry, it was my fault. I shouldn't have made her do such harsh training. I take full responsibility.” The leader of the dance team bowed apologetically to Makoto.

“No, no. I’m the one in charge here. I thought that everyone would get more motivated with an assignment to work on, but… that sure did backfire.” She sighed.

Apparently, one of the idol twins, Miu, had had an accident yesterday during the dance practice. She sprained her ankle and wouldn’t be able to recover enough to run and dance on stage in time for the performance.

“Can’t we find someone with a healing Quirk to help her?” Chuuya asked while laying the boxes.

Makoto shook her head, “Doctors with healing Quirks are rare and mainly work for private hospitals. The insurance won’t cover it. Besides, such a small injury can be denied to prioritize more serious cases.”

The PR manager turned to the white board and shared her solutions, “But we’ll have to make do. We still need to finalise the position and rehearse. On that day, we can either have Pop in the center with other two vocals on the sides, not moving much. Or take Miu out and have Yu and Pop perform as a duo.”

“But I… practiced so hard.” The Miu girl looked about to burst into tears again.

Seeing this, Pop Step was hesitant to accept this progress, it didn’t feel right to single out a girl, whose dream was similar to hers. She also had worked so hard for this chance.

“H-hold on! How about we put Miu in the center?” Pop suggested. The others turned at her, and the pink-haired girl felt embarrassed under the attention, but she pushed herself to speak up. “A-as you have said before, my talent is in jumping and stage performance. Compared to me, these two can sing better. So we should do what we can as a team.”

“Hum?” Makoto considered that option, “That could work… Let’s say that we have a center position that doesn't move much, then we can have the dancers and other vocals move more to create the contrast. However, Pop Step’s dancing style is much more unique so originally I wanted to take advantage of that bouncing style as much as possible. She would shine best as a sub-dancer/vocalist during the slow transition to keep the crowd hyped.”

“It would be a waste to let Pop stand on the side to support the center position, and Yu can’t do it alone. If only we had another singer.” Makoto drew three stick figures in the middle of the board, with another jumping in mid-air.

*Ahem* “May I have a suggestion?” Everyone turned around to see Dazai in a showman position. The suggestion that he was presenting was none other than his beloved partner.

Chuuya blinked as they pointed to themselves, “... Me?”

—

When the song ended, the room was quiet. Chuuya gripped the microphone that Pop lent them as if they weren’t sure whether the silence was good or bad.

Dazai was holding two thumbs up, but that could both mean either mockery or encouragement… Then the clapping started.

“I didn’t know that you’re a rock fan, Chuuya.” Pop Step clapped, “Your low singing voice is amazing.”

“Yeah! I can’t tell if you're a boy or a girl, Ouch!” Koichi got hit by Pop, “What?! It’s a compliment.”

“I think you would have no problem singing our chosen songs, even though they're more pop genres. But what about dancing? How do you feel about it?” Makoto asked.

“Just for you to know, our dance choreography can be a challenge to learn in 10 days.” The leader of the dance team said.

Chuuya tilted their head and told others to leave them some space. The redhead then performed some simple acrobatic moves, including a cartwheel, a backflip, and a split. They did all of that at a continuous speed and in professional forms of gymnastic athletes.

“... Yeah, you’ll have no problem learning the moves.” The dance leader said while adjusting her glasses to make sure that what she had seen was real. “The only issue is your height, but nothing extra platform shoes can’t fix.”

Chuuya pouted at the mention of their height. The twin idols were the same age as Pop’s, three years older than Chuuya’s current physical age, so it was just natural that they were shorter in comparison. But damn, they hated being poked at the long-time wound.

The redhead gazed over Dazai and wondered why he had suggested this idea. The day of the event was also when they expected Bee User’s attack, so what was the reason behind having them occupied that day?

Things were settled, and Chuuya became one of the vocalists for the main performance. They were given a schedule and were told to practice almost every day until the event.

“Why did you do that? I won’t be able to support you in capturing the Bee User that day.” Chuuya asked after they left the meeting.

“Don’t worry about it too much. Just follow my plan.” Dazai said casually. Chuuya never liked Dazai’s habit of planning everything without telling anyone. Especially his smug attitude while assigning everyone a role despite their opinions.

Noticing his partner’s unpleasant feeling, the brunette sighed and gave a simple excuse, “In case the situation turns bad, and Instant Villains attack the event. It’s better if you’re there to protect the civilians.”

That reason made sense… if Chuuya had been an idiot. “That crappy Captain will be there, as well as many other Heroes and security staff. I won’t even be able to fight the Instant Villains unless I want to be arrested for illegal Quirk use.”

“You’re sidelining me on purpose. Why?” The redhead pushed him for an answer, but then it hit them. “You don’t trust me.”

“You don’t trust that I can protect myself from those stupid bees. What the hell? One time, and you treat me like some incapable rookie. Just let me-” A sharp voice cut them off.

“Drop it, Chuuya. My decision is final.” Dazai spoke coldly. For a second, Chuuya imagined they were standing in the old office, and the Port Mafia boss just ordered them to shut up like a good dog. A loyal and stupid dog.

Maybe Dazai realized he overstepped, so he quickly explained his reason. “Look… I don’t want to do this either, but you’re unfit to deal with this opponent. Having you deal with many small targets will divide your attention, and one mistake will lead to Corruption being activated. This will be a face-to-face battle, and I can’t always keep an eye on you in the field.” And maybe… a part of him never got over the fact that Chuuya had died using Corruption… had died knowing that Dazai couldn’t reach them.

Therefore, he was doing it for their sake. This was the most suitable solution. Why couldn’t they see it?

Unfortunately, Chuuya didn’t seem to appreciate his thoughtful plan. The redhead gritted their teeth and looked like they wanted to punch him. However, nothing was delivered after a long time.

“... Fine. Have it your way.” They stomped off, leaving Dazai alone on the street.

It was unlikely that he would be welcome in the other’s place at the moment. Dazai left with a heavy sigh and walked back to his empty apartment. His mom had texted that she would stay overnight at the news station so it was a convenient store meal for dinner tonight.

10 days left until Naruhata's festival.

“I haven’t seen the punk for like a week now. Since I met you, this is the longest period of time that both of you haven’t glued hip-to-hip.” Pop Step told Chuuya during their dancing practice. They were at a small rented studio with the rest of the performers for a rehearsal.

Chuuya didn’t look at her, instead staring at the band with an unfocused look. “He is being an idiot, and it pisses me off. I don’t want to see his face right now.”

Pop stretched her arms. “Hum… so you guys are fighting?”

“You would know if we fought. Usually, it involves blood, bruises, broken bones, and someone loses a tooth or two.”

“A cold war then.” Pop Step didn’t even point out the violence in that statement. “It’s fine if you miss him. No need to act like you don’t.”

“Hah?! What’re you talking about?” Chuuya flustered.

“You have been staring at his contact. I saw you typing and erased more than twenty messengers… and we only started the rehearsal 15 minutes ago.”

*Tsk* The redhead clicked their tongue and threw their phone over a faraway desk. 

On the screen was a half-finished messenger. ‘You’re the most arrogant bastard and stinkiest Mackerel. I hope you fall into a ditch and turn into fishcake… Also maybe I’ve overreacted, so let’s just say sorry to each other and get over this. I miss you.’

—

In a dark alley, two figures were standing as if they were waiting for something or someone.

“Your dealing method is ineffective, really. You waste too much time waiting for individual druggies to come to you, while you could divide the portions and hire more dealers. That way you don’t need to always be in a specific place and risk being noticed by the police.”

“... Never thought about a day when I’m being lectured on how to deal drugs by a twelve-year-old.” Dabi rolled his eyes. “Too bad that I ain’t paid to deal with you. Why do you follow us anyway? The scary old man and I have been working together just fine.”

“Excuse me, I’ll be thirteen in a few days. Also, for your information, I’m the one paying you.”

For a few weeks now, Dabi had been helping Knuckle Duster to note down shady areas and where most of the usual dealings took place. They also had interviewed the homeless people about the criminal activities that potentially involved someone with the nickname - Bee User. Everything was going smoothly, and Dabi was getting paid as he had been promised. However, a week ago, the dark-haired brat invaded their usual mapping sessions for no reason.

Most of the time, the brat offered no help. He just sat around sulking and mumbled something about his dog. Dabi didn’t know why he was here, but it was better than that ginger that had hit him with a safe.

“Alright, kids. I got my stuff, let’s go.” Knuckle Duster exited a shady bar and told them to get out of the alley. The Vigilante carried a large silver case and a bag filled with bottles of liquids.

“I hope that you’re sure about this plan. No objection from me, but you should be aware of the risk.” Dazai said as he followed the man back to the warehouse.

“Ha! Nothing is certain in life, brat. No plan is flawless, most of the time, you will have to shoot in the dark and pray for the best outcome.” Knuckle Duster said, “The same with you and your little redhead. You aren’t achieving anything by sitting here and avoiding your problem. Be a man and do something even if you end up getting slapped… A little advice, bring a bouquet and a chocolate box, it always works with my wife.”

“... I’m not avoiding my problem.”

“Kid, I've been married for twenty years. I know it when I see one. Sometimes you have to swallow that worthless pride so that you don’t have to sleep on the couch.”

Dabi, who also followed them to get his paycheck, was kinda curious about this strange situation. At first, he had only wanted to get the money and never associate with these people again, but these two didn’t really seem like Villains and the whole thing was filled with mysteries. After he was at least 95% positive that these two wouldn’t murder him, Dabi bit the bullet and asked.

“I know it’s quite late to ask about this, but what is the purpose of all of these?”

The others didn’t answer right away, as if they debated how much information was okay to share. Dazai observed the scars on the guy’s arms and asked him.

“How well can you control your fire?” That was what he asked instead.

Dabi was taken aback a bit but replied anyway, “Pretty well, I have some… training when I was young. I still try to practice by myself nowadays.”

“Can you control a large flame at a distance like 8 or 10 meters?”

“I burn anything into ashes at that distance, and without turning it into a wildfire if that is what you are asking,” He said after a few seconds of thinking.

Dazai slowed down his steps and circled a few rounds around the young man. Dabi was uncomfortable at his stare so he turned back to face the boy. “What?” He asked.

Dazai tilted his head, “How do you feel about another commission? We have some bug issues that need some helping hands.”

“Bugs? Are you planning to burn down a house because there is a giant spider in it?” 

“Oh my, you have the wildest imagination. No house will be burned… I think.”

3 days left until Naruhata's festival.

“Class dismissed. Remember that these will be in the mid-term exam. If you don’t want extra classes in summer, you'd better study it.” 

The students groaned and complained, but the teacher had already walked out of the room. Chuuya gazed at their note, but nothing stuck in their head. Their mind kept wandering to the gloomy potato sitting next to them.

Both of them had been ignoring each other for the past week, and it got to the point that everyone in their class knew and tiptoed around the duo. 

Suddenly, the brunette kicked his chair loudly as he stood up. Chuuya turned their head away to act like they weren’t paying attention to him. The next step of the boy was, however,  unexpected as he put a carton of milk on their desk before leaving the classroom.

Chuuya gazed at the strawberry milk carton in front of them and felt an urge to sigh out loud.

This was stupid.

Both of them were really idiots. The worst kind of idiots, too. Prideful and stubborn.

Finishing the sweet, tangy milk, Chuuya threw the empty carton into the trashcan and left the room. In the hallway, they passed a member from the soccer club, who asked why they hadn’t headed to the field yet.

“I have something to do. Tell the coach that I’ll be late.” They said and continued walking toward the isolated building behind the school.

The further away from the main campus, the fewer students were around. Chuuya’s footsteps created heavy noises as they walked on the old wooden board, announcing their presence to the group of students lurking around the hallway of the old building.

“You’re getting more and more pathetic. Is this all you have?” A student, whose look was a hybrid between a venus flytrap and a human, said. He was flipping through a wallet that definitely didn't belong to him. Next to him was a mutant with a wolf's head.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Ryu? That freshman could come here anytime soon.” The wolf-boy said nervously. Despite his uneasiness, he and another lackey were still following orders and holding down the bullied student.

“That guy wasn’t even that scary. Last time, my Quirk came back after a minute. Besides, most people should learn it by now that Quirkless…” He kicked the student’s shin, “Are not actual people.”

The student being kicked, Okura, gazed at the bullies. He gritted his teeth but didn’t fight back as both his arms were held back by two other bullies. 

“Oi,” a slight feminine voice spoke up. “I don’t think that belongs to you.”

The students turned around to see a female student standing a few steps away from them. They had heard someone was coming, but assumed that these people would just ignore and walk away, most students were too afraid to involve themselves with the trouble makers.

“What do we have here? A bitch wants to play Hero, huh?” The plant guy, Ryu said. “But you’re kinda cute. How about you do me some favors, and we let the loser go?” He walked toward the redhead with the intention of grabbing their shoulder.

Before he could touch them, Chuuya grabbed his arm first and gave him a Judo flip. His back hit the ground hard, literally shaking the whole floor. The other delinquents jumped in to support them, but failed. Chuuya swung a right hook, which hit the wolf’s chin, and a kick on the fat guy’s stomach. The fight ended with them all lying on the ground and couldn’t move due to gravity. Usually, Chuuya would choose to beat them into submission, but they were still in the schoolground, not an ideal place for extreme violence, so they could only keep them down for now.

“How much money did these guys get from you?” They asked the bullied student. However, Okura just stared warily at them and didn’t answer. Chuuya shrugged and took those guys’ wallets anyway. After taking all the cash from them, the redhead gave a warning before letting them go.

“Here,” they handed the cash to Okura, but he didn’t take it.

“You think you’re helping me? They will remember this and make me pay back twice in the future.”

“Then what do you want me to do? They’ll beat you sooner or later. What are your solutions?” Chuuya asked him, “Sit back and be beaten or…” They pointed at the sharp object in his hand.

“Find a better way to fight back. Trust me, a compass is hardly an ideal weapon. Unless you stab them in the eyes, not much a needle can do. Not to mention, the fingerprints that you leave on it.” Seeing that the student didn’t have any intention to take the money, they left it on the floor.

Chuuya was about to walk away, but the student threw them a last sentence. “I don’t trust your kind.”

The ginger raised an eyebrow at those words. “Whatever suits you. Can you do me a favor at least? Do you know where the Literature club is?”

—

The clubroom’s door opened, and Dazai looked up from the book to greet the newcomer. Okura nodded back at him. The second-year student seemed a bit tired as he sat down at the tables. He was holding a wrapped package, so the club president asked him.

“Okura, what is it? A present? Is it someone’s birthday?”

“I guess it’s Dazai’s?… Someone asked me to give you this, by the way.” He handed the package to Dazai. The brunette blinked in confusion as he unwrapped the package. He hadn’t told these two about this day, so why…

Inside was a book with a red and white cover. ‘The Complete Suicide’ was what was written on the cover.

“What is this?! Who could send someone a book like this?” Hirano gasped in shock. This was like wishing the receiver to follow the book’s content. The president was about to ask Dazai to report to the teachers about this, but instead saw him laugh out loud.

“Ha ha ha ha! Calm down, calm down.” He said between his chuckles, “It isn’t anything like that. Look, the inside is empty, it's just a notebook.”

Dazai flipped through the pages, and it was indeed just empty pages. It seemed that it was an ordinary notebook with a custom-made cover.

“I’m 100% sure that the giver has no harmful intention. You can say that it’s an inside joke between us.” He said and turned over the first page of the notebook.

You said that this book doesn’t exist in this world, and you've been disappointed that you can't find anything interesting enough to read over and over again. Seeing that you have started writing more, I want to give you this. Now you can stop whining and write a story that is worth revisiting to you.

Signed, 

Your Boss. (Yes, you’ve never written a resignation letter, so technically you’re still working for the PM. Therefore, as the latest Boss, I have the right to demote you.)

Dazai smiled like an idiot at the elegant handwriting. The other club members were confused but quickly moved on to other details after knowing that this wasn’t a mean prank.

“Wait. So is it your birthday, Dazai?” Hirano asked.

Dazai nodded casually, “Ah, yeah. Don’t expect any party, though. I don’t really celebrate it.”

“That isn’t right. We should do something different today.” She told the group, “How about some ice cream. I know a place that will give you a discount on your birthday.”

“I can pay for it,” Okura raised his hand. “Let’s just say… I have some extra allowance to spend.”

“Eh, why not?” Dazai closed his new notebook, carefully put it in his backpack, and followed the others.

1 day left until Naruhata's festival.

“YEAH! Narufest is near everyone! Grab a flyer and invite your friends and family!” A group of Pop Step’s fans shouted while handing out the last patch of advertisement flyers. “Come to see the amazing performances of local artists. Alongside them are the appearances of Captain Celerbrity and surprise guest Heroes! You can’t miss this!”

Hachisuka grabbed a flyer as she walked by. The high school girl adjusted her eyepatch with an excited smile.

“Well, if we’re getting some surprise Heroes, then it’s only fair to have a surprise Villain, right?”

The brick-colored haired girl headed into a shady area and opened the garage of an old building.

“Let’s see, he said that I could get my reward here. Ah! yeah.” She grinned as she entered the garage. There were empty tubes of injections lying on the ground. Connected to the walls were mental chains that held something big captured.

“Pop-p wanna sh-shake hand.” A tall slimy creature mumbled. The chain cut into its skin, but it wasn't even aware of it.

“Uh huh~. Of course, you can shake her hand. Let’s cheer your beloved Pop Step together, shall we?”

*Buzz*

0 days, 3 hours until Naruhata's festival.

Chapter Text

Ayano was smiling brightly at the camera while hugging her child’s shoulder. Chuuya could feel the itching coming from the ruffled part of their dress, but tried to force a small smile. Fortunately, Masa-san didn’t seem to notice the half-hearted smile as she checked the lighting of the photos.

*Snap* “Stay still… and done!” The journalist saved the photos in the camera’s file before giving them back to the intern. 

“Please send those to me later, and thank you so much, Masa. I know how busy you are. It’s nice that you joined us today.” Ayano said.

“It’s fine, I’d have to come here to write an article about it anyway.” Masa replied, “I was surprised when you told me that your daughter would participate in the event. I haven’t heard anything from Osamu, and he always talks about Chuuya nonstop. But he has been oddly quiet this week.”

The female journalist thought about it, “It’s strange that he decided to stay home today. I’ll have to call him later. He has been sulking all week. That boy really needs some fresh air.” 

“Higashi-san, we need you to check the video crew.” Someone from the news station called Masa. The cool-headed woman excused herself before heading outside the stage area.

“Come here, Chu-chu. Turn around so that I can check your outfit.” Ayano made Chuuya spin around to check the stem on her dress. “This was added quite last-minute, so I had to rush it quite a bit. Even so, you look amazing in this, honey.” She pinched their rosy cheeks.

“Ugh… don’t treat me like a toddler, Mom.” Chuuya pouted. 

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry. Don’t want to embarrass you in front of your friends.” Ayano chuckled, “Let’s finish the final touch. Mistuki, hand me the accessories box, please.” She called her assistant from the studio, who was a tall blond woman with a spiky hairstyle.

Chuuya was given a small fedora hat to match their outfit. As their mom was fussing over her kid, on the other side of the room, a certain pink-haired girl was having a mental crisis.

“Only an hour until the performance. Ugh!! What am I doing here? I can’t do this! I’ll fail, and they all will see how much of a loser I am. Then all my fans will abandon me.” Pop Step mumbled while curled up in a chair.

“Relax, you’ll be fine,” Koichi said unhelpfully.

“Relax? RELAX?! Like I can just order my body to do that!” Pop was literally panicking so Koichi needed to come up with something quick.

He turned his head around and saw Chuuya, “Oh! Isn’t Chuuya’s mom the one who made your outfit? How about we come over and say hi?”

“Huh… right… We should thank all the people who support the show.” Pop Step said uncertainly, but she still walked toward them. Koichi was relieved that Pop was able to be distracted by this, even if it was just temporarily.

“Um, excuse me, madam. You’re from the fashion studio that made the costumes, right?” Pop asked politely. “I want to say that these outfits are wonderful, thank you for making them, and I-uh I will do my best to be worthy of my outfit.”

“Oh my, such a delicate young woman. Is this the friend that you talked about, Chu-chu?” Ayano turned to her kid and received a nod, “My daughter has told me that she joined this because of her new friend. I should be the one to thank you instead. It has been so long since I saw my kid wearing this type of clothes. Doesn’t she look adorable?”

Ayano sighed, “I wish she would wear these more, but it's hard to find occasions to wear elaborate outfits. I even tried to sign her up for a beauty pageant in the past so that I would have an excuse to dress her in cute clothes, but sadly, she was eliminated and banned from the contest.”

“Eh? Banned from a beauty contest? How?” Koichi asked.

“They didn’t appreciate my talent show,” Chuuya said calmly.

“She had her friend, Dazai, tied on the target board, and she threw real knives at him.” Their mom said with an even tone as if that wasn’t such an unusual thing when it came to her kid.

The other two Vigilantes looked at Chuuya, but the redhead shrugged like that was nothing. 

“In my defense, that wasn’t the reason they kicked me out. A judge told me to stop my show, and I held a knife toward his fake wig, making it stick into a wall.”

“...” 

While the other Vigilantes questioned the Double Black’s morals in silence, the door of the performance’s green room slammed open.

“YO YO YO! Are you ready to rock?!” A man with a ridiculous haircut screamed as he entered the room. “The afternoon show was a blast! Can’t wait for the evening performance.”

Following him was a woman in a very inappropriate outfit. “Oh ho ho! I like what I am seeing.” She licked her lip. “Youth is truly a beautiful thing.”

Chuuya realized that this was the female Hero back at the police station, and she wasn’t the only one they recognized. 

“Excuse us,” The blond Hero who drowned in jeans bowed slightly to greet them. “It’s a pleasure to be here.” Next to him, there were also a few other Heroes.

Koichi covered his mouth as he named each Heroes. “That’s President Mic, Midnight, Best Jeanist, and over there is Death Arms and-”

Chuuya ignored his fanboying and chose to observe the Heroes instead. After a moment, they noticed something. All Heroes here had attended the Instant Villains conference, besides that loud blond guy. Of course, a few were missing, like that flaming jerk, elbow engines, and Mackerel 2.0. Still, Chuuya couldn’t help but feel that the Heroes, who agreed to join this festival, had a hidden purpose to come here. They probably suspected that there was a high chance that Instant Villains would appear today.

“So anyway, where’s Aizawa?” Midnight asked President Mic. “You passed along the invitation, right?”

“Of course, I did! He said ‘I’ll come if I can.”

“So he’s not coming then,” Midnight said, unsurprisingly.

President Mic gasped, “How can you doubt our friend? Shota might be an introvert, but he won’t ditch us unless it’s necessary. He is just finishing his patrol right now.”

The room was getting more and more crowded after the Heroes joined in. Chuuya couldn’t hear anything besides the overlapping of dozens and dozens of conversations happening at the same time. They turned to their mom, who was busy checking other performers’ outfits and decided to head outside to get some snacks before the evening show began.

The rooftop area was filled with mostly families who came to visit to enjoy the shows and the new food stations. Chuuya bit into a juicy meat skewer and tasted the spicy seasoning. Glancing over a sweet dessert station, they thought about a certain mackerel’s sweet tooth. Maybe Chuuya should buy something for him. Dazai wasn’t the most athletic guy out there. After this, he would complain endlessly about having to do too much, which served his right for slidelining them.

Before the redhead could decide whether to head to the sweet food court or not, someone bumped into them.

“Ah! I'm so sorry! I’m just trying to-” The boy, who bumped into them, got cut off by an adult.

“Where are you going? Don’t you care about humanity’s future?” The man said warily. He wore a business suit with a flower-shaped pin on his front pocket. With just a glance, people would assume that this was a businessman, but the thick book in his hand showed that he was likely some kind of missionary.

“Give me a minute to explain. Everyone should know about the disease that will destroy-”

“Oi!” Chuuya blocked between the boy and the man. “Do you have permission to promote it here? This is a sponsor event, ya know?”

“I don’t need permission to enlighten humankind.”

“And I don’t need permission to kick you out because this is private property. Security!” Chuuya shouted, but the man ran off before the store’s staff arrived.

The redhead finished their stew and turned to the boy. “Next time, just ignore those people. They just try to scare you and then sell you some overpriced guidebook or fake medicine. Fucking scammers.”

“Where are your parents, kid? I’ll walk you to them.” The boy was probably around Chuuya’s physical age, but the habit of acting like an adult was hard to replace after such a long time.

“I- You… Ah… Um-” The boy tripped continuously over his words.

Chuuya tilted their head in confusion and observed the kid to see why he was having trouble speaking. This boy had green, dark curly hair, freckles, and an average thin figure. Everything about him screamed normal. The only abnormal thing about him was his face, which was currently red as a tomato. Was he sick? A Quirk effect? Chuuya wondered.

After the ‘Ah’ and ‘Um’ number n, Chuuya sighed and told him. “Look, if you can’t speak, just point the direction.”

The broccoli-haired boy pointed in the direction with his shanking finger. Chuuya led first and told him to follow them. They then ended up at the table area where people sat down to eat. A glance over the area, Chuuya pulled the flustering mess toward a table where a middle-aged lady, whose features were similar to his, was sitting with a few others.

“Izuku! There you are! I was so worried.” She fussed over the boy while tearing up.

“Ahh- I’m fine, mum. Oh… uh… this is-”

“Alright, I’m out. Stay safe, kid.” Their work was done, and Chuuya needed to get back to the green room. However, an annoying brat had to open his mouth and bark.

“Did you need a kindergartner to escort you, Deku? That’s embarrassing, even for you.” A boy with blond spiky hair and red eyes said rudely.

“K-Kacchan… I.”

“Who the fuck did you just call kindergartner?!” Chuuya snarked back. They were having a terrible week due to the fight with Dazai and the whole deal being left here to sing and dance in an uncomfortable outfit. Chuuya knew that they should be better than this, snapping in front of strangers because some kid couldn’t keep their stupid mouth shut, but it was like the final straw on a camel’s back.

“You, duh! Are you deaf, carrot head?” The blond brat couldn’t even pretend that he was able to act like a decent human. The brown-haired man next to him, probably his dad, was trying to stop his potty mouth, but with little to no success.

However, Chuuya wasn’t afraid to put spoiled children back in their place, with or without the parents’ presence. “You bark a lot for a cheap copy of a pomeranian. Are insults the only vocabulary in that tiny brain of yours? It must be hard to live with so few brain cells to spare.”

“DO YOU WANT TO DIE BITC-” “SHUT THE FUCK UP, KATSUKI!! WE’RE IN PUBLIC!” A blond woman ran up and smacked the rude kid’s head. “How many times did I tell you to watch that mouth of yours?”

“You can’t tell me what to do, old hag!” The kid, Katsuki, screamed. The woman held his neck down as if she were holding back a rabid dog.

“That’s enough of you! Now apologize to… Oh, you’re Ayano-san’s kid!” The woman realized them at the same time that Chuuya also realized her. She was their mom’s assistant from the fashion studio.

The redhead bowed slightly, “Nice to see you again,… Mitsuki-san, right?”

“My surname is Bakugou, but feel free to call me that, sweetheart. Sorry for my brat’s behavior; he can be difficult to deal with.” She grabbed her kid’s head, making him bow down. “Apologize, Katsuki!”

“Why should I?! I don’t want to be here, but you dragged me anyway. Why the hell did we have to come all the way here to see the All Might knock-off version?”

While the mother and son were having a shouting match, the father walked to Chuuya.

“Sorry about… everything. It’s nice to meet you, your name is Chuuya, yeah? Your mom talks a lot about you. She even has multiple photos of you framed at her workplace.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Mister.” Chuuya shook his hand, “Do you also work at my mom’s studio?”

“Yes, we work in different departments, but my wife works directly under her.” He explained.

Chuuya gazed over the mom and son duos, one was sitting awkwardly at the table, while the other was one step away from a fist fight. Those kids sure took after the mothers, Chuuya thought. If Dazai and they had kids, sure hoped that the kids wouldn’t take after the Mackerel too much, it would be a nightmare to deal with.